


The Rescue

by Singerme



Category: Gunsmoke
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-25
Updated: 2013-11-25
Packaged: 2018-01-02 13:56:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 47
Words: 64,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1057590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Singerme/pseuds/Singerme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kitty is tried and found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang.  Matt and Festus set out to rescue her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**The Rescue 1**

**I don’t own these characters; I just like to spend time with them.  No other profit to be had.**

**(Set sometime between Seasons 10 and 11)**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The day had been a long one and the night even longer.  Though there was currently only one trail herd in town, one had proven to be plenty.  Looking around at the three broken chairs, the table with only one leg and the too many bullet holes in the floor, Kitty guessed it could’ve been worse.  At least they hadn’t shot holes into her ceiling tonight.

Wearily stretching her back, she stood up from the table she’d been sitting at as she tallied up the day’s receipts.  If she was lucky she might’ve just made enough that night to pay for the broken furniture and to repair the floor.  Looking up, she saw Sam had already done most of the cleaning and turned down the lamps.  Anything else could wait till morning.  All that was left was to lock up the money and lock the front door. A door, she’d been purposely leaving open for a certain lawman, who’d so far failed to appear.

‘Oh, well.’ She thought.  ‘He must have a couple of cowboys in the jail.’   Looking over at her barkeeper she could see he was as exhausted as she was.  “Sam,” she called out to him.  “What do you say, we call it a night.  We can finish up in the morning.”

Gratefully, Sam nodded in agreement.  “Yes, Ma’am.”  He smiled.  “You want me to lock up the cash for you?”

“No.” She shook her head.  “You go on.  I’ll lock it up.”

“Well, alright then, Miss Kitty.”  Sam said as he took off his apron and reached for his hat and jacket.  “You have a good evening and I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Good night, Sam.”  She smiled as she followed him to the front doors and then locked them behind him.  Grabbing the cash box and her books, she took one more look around the saloon before putting out the light on the bar and heading into her office.  

Opening the door and stepping inside was the last thing she remembered until she came to in Doc’s office with a head ache.  She never saw or knew of the events that took place afterwards.

When Kitty awoke, she looked around and saw Matt sitting beside her, intensely watching her.  “Matt?”  She questioned.  “What… what happened?”

“How are you feeling?”  He asked, deflecting her question for a moment.

“My head hurts.”  She gingerly rubbed the goose egg on the side of her head.  “What happened?  How’d I get here?”

“I carried you up here.”  He answered.  “Sam and Tim Fulmer, the whiskey drummer, found you in the floor of your office this morning.  You… uh apparently fell and hit your head.” He avoided saying anything else, because he needed to hear her version of events first.  “Do you remember anything?”  He asked cautiously.

Kitty closed her eyes, trying to recall the events of the previous evening.  The only thing she could remember was telling Sam goodnight, opening the door to her office and stepping inside.  Nothing else.  Opening her eyes she shook her head with a blank look at Matt.  “I don’t remember too much of anything, Matt.”  She told him.  “I remember walking into my office but that’s it.  Why?  Did something happen?”  Matt silence was scaring her a little.

“Do you remember seeing anyone in there as you walked in or maybe hearing a noise or something?”  He wanted desperately to find a way out of this for her.

“No, I told you.  I remember walking into my office and then nothing else.”  Her voice had risen in fear.  Something seriously bad must’ve happened while she was unconscious.  “Matt, please, you’re scaring me.  Tell me what this is all about.”

Matt dropped his head with a sigh, unable to meet her gaze for a moment.  Finally summoning up the courage, he raised his eyes to hers.  “When Sam and Eddie found you, you were on the floor of your office.  You had a gun in your hand and an empty bottle of whiskey lying on the floor next to you.”

Kitty looked at him in total confusion.  “That doesn’t make any sense.”  She said.  “It can’t be.  I never had any whiskey or a gun when I went into the office.  I had no reason to have those things.  The only things I had were my books and the cash box.”

Matt believed her, which made what he had to tell her next, all that much harder.  Getting up from the chair, he paced over to the window, tucking his hands into his pockets so she wouldn’t see the slight tremble in them. 

“Matt?”  Kitty was seriously worried now.  “Please, tell me what this is all about.”  She pleaded.

Taking a deep breath, he turned back to her.  “You weren’t the only one found on your office floor, Kitty.”  He said softly, regretfully.  “Vic Treager was found lying beside you, and he was dead.  Shot.  The gun in your hand looked like it had been fired and the bullets from it matched the one that killed Vic.”

Kitty’s eyes widened as he spoke and she shook her head.  “No, Matt. That can’t be.”

“Kitty,” he sighed hating to have to do this but seeing no other choice.  “It looks like you killed Vic Treager and unless you can remember something or I can prove otherwise, I’d have to arrest you for murder.”

Matt watched as the reality of his words slowly crept across her face and registered in her horrified mind.  Swiftly, he crossed back over to the bed and took her hand, pulling her up into his arms.  “Kitty, I don’t want you to worry about this.  Okay?  There’s got to be a logical explanation behind all of this and we’ll find it.”

Kitty silently digested what Matt had told her.  Vic Treager was found dead, in her office, shot with a gun she was found holding.  Raising her eyes to Matt’s, she didn’t like what she saw.  Along with his love and concern, she saw worry and something else she hadn’t seen since the night Cole Yankton had robbed the Dodge City bank and Chester had suggested she had helped Cole do it.  On his ruggedly handsome face, she saw suspicion. 

“You think I killed him, don’t you?”  She asked.  It was not an accusation; it was a statement of fact.

“Kitty…” He nervously licked his lips.

“Don’t you?”  She asked again, her voice lower but more urgent and carrying a note of pain in it that he should believe something like that of her.

“What I think,” Matt said slowly, deliberately, “is that I have to do a lot of investigating, before we’ll have any idea of what happened.  I admit, you being found with that gun in your hand and whiskey on your clothes, well that sounds incriminating.  But you could’ve been defending yourself against Vic.  He and Quaid Hill have been harassing you since they got to town so it’s not inconceivable that he got drunk, broke into your office and attacked you and you killed him in self-defense.”

“And the whiskey on my clothes?”  She questioned.  Matt was grasping at straws and she knew it.

“Maybe he had a bottle with him and it got spilled in the struggle.”  Matt suggested.  But he could tell she was no more convinced than he was.  Matt took her hand.  “Honey, I don’t have the answers right now.  I don’t know what happened or how or why.  But I do know that you would not kill a man unless you had no other choice.  And somehow, we’ll find a way to prove that.  Okay?”

Kitty nodded but Matt could tell she didn’t really believe him.  Pulling her to him, he kissed the crown of her head and held her tightly.  “It’s going to be alright, Kitty.”  He told her.  “It’s going to be alright.”

But as the next two weeks progressed, Matt had the sinking feeling that it wasn’t going to be alright.  It wasn’t going to be near alright.  He and Festus had done everything in their power to find proof of Kitty’s innocence.  But instead of clearing her, everything they found, seemed to damn her even more.  

Although Doc, couldn’t say with certainty that Vic or Kitty either one was drunk, they had both had whiskey on their clothes and on their breath.  Of course, Kitty having liquor on her breath was proof of nothing by its self; she was a saloon owner after all.  But it didn’t help her case any either.

And although Kitty swore that she had not let Vic into the saloon that night, much less in her office, the fact remained that he was in there and neither the front, nor the back, door had been tampered with, at least as far as he could determine.

The cash box and books, she had entered with, were found on her desk and the money hadn’t been touched, so the theory of Vic breaking into rob her, didn’t have much going for it.  Although Matt figured the reason the money wasn’t touched was because Vic had been killed before he could do anything; but that could work against Kitty as well.  It could mean that Kitty shot Vic in cold blood, before he could make a move towards her.

The gun, found in Kitty’s hand, was hers.  It was the one she kept in her desk drawer.  Though there was no way to prove with certainty that it had been the murder weapon.  It had been recently fired and the bullet found in Treager’s body was of the same caliber and make as that found in the gun.  And the murdered man was found with no weapons on him or near him, save the one in Kitty’s hand.

There were a few things in her favor but they weren’t much help.  No one saw her shoot Treager, but as she was found with a gun in her hand, and Treager lying dead beside her, that helped very little. 

She had a bump on the side of her head and was found by the door which suggested that someone hit her when she entered her office.  But Doc couldn’t say with any certainty that she hadn’t fallen or maybe been pushed by a dying Treager and hit her head on the edge of her desk or cabinet.

Treager and his partner Quaid Hill, who’d come to Dodge about a year prior and set up a hide shop at the end of town, had been harassing Kitty and coming on to her since their first night in town.  Kitty had more than once made it clear to everyone, within hearing, that she wanted nothing to do with them and would not accept their many crude proposals.    She had even ordered them out of the Long Branch several times.  But that only served to give her a reason to want to get rid of them permanently.

For a solid week, Matt, with help from everyone that loved Kitty, did everything in his power to find out what really happened in her office that night and prove that she hadn’t killed Vic Treager. 

But at the end of the week, amidst pressure from a large contingent of the ‘respectable people’ in Dodge, Quaid Hill and his ‘friends’ and a prosecutor sent by the governor specifically for the purpose of investigating this, Matt Dillon arrested Kitty Russell and took her to jail.  The charge was Murder.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**The Rescue 2**

**Author’s Note:** Prior to 1900 (1835 – 1899) ballistics involved simple observation, physical matching, caliber determination from an examination of the shape and size of a projectile, and experiments. It wasn’t until after 1900 that the science of firearm and tool mark identification was recognized by numerous judicial (law) systems in several countries around the world.  From: **_THE HISTORY OF FIREARM AND TOOLMARK IDENTIFICATION_** By: James E. Hamby, Ph.D.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

A week after her arrest, a trial was convened and Kitty was put on trial for her life with Judge Henry sitting in for an ailing Judge Brookings.  A fact that worried Matt tremendously.  He was the one that sentenced Pruitt Dover to hang a couple years prior, despite the lack of real evidence of his guilt.  And he had shown more than once that he cared very little for Matt Dillon or his views on the law.  The cards were not stacked in Kitty’s favor.

The theory, put forth by the prosecutor, an obese and rude man named Meesler Ship, was a simple one.  Kitty had arranged for Vic Treager to meet her in her office after the saloon was closed. Vic came with the intentions of something personal happening between them, but Kitty had other ideas. 

After sending her bartender home early, she had gone to her office with the clear intent to kill and rob the man that had been pestering her.  The facts that the murdered man’s pants were unbuttoned and his pockets were empty were proof of that, according to Kitty’s accuser. 

He espoused the opinion that after plying him with whiskey and making him believe she was willing to be intimate with him, she pulled the gun from her drawer to shoot him.  But, according to the pompous man, who waddled around the room as though he owned it, Vic wasn’t as drunk as she had thought and he fought with her for the gun.  Somehow, in the struggle, the weapon went off, killing Vic Treager and knocking Kitty Russell back where she hit her head on her desk, rendering her unconscious. 

Kitty’s attorney, an astute, though inexperienced, young man named Jeff Stafford, did his best to mitigate the evidence.  He pointed out that Kitty had, on many occasions and quite loudly, told Vic and his partner, that she wanted nothing to do with them.  She would never invite one of them to her office.  He also brought out the fact that Kitty Russell was a wealthy woman in her own right and had no need to rob Vic for his money. 

He wanted to point out that if there had of been a struggle, Traeger’s death would more than likely be an accident, rather than murder.  But to say that, he would have to say that she had invited Vic to her office and pulled the gun in the first place and Kitty was adamant that she had not. 

Kitty in fact stated clearly, loudly and often that the events, as portrayed by Meesler, had not happened.  But her continued protests seemed to work against her.  Many of the people in Dodge, including some of the jurors, believed the old adage that states, the one who protests the loudest is usually the guiltiest.

Stafford got Sam to admit that many times, Kitty had sent him home before the work was completely done when it had been a long day or the weather was bad.  The fact that she did so, on the night of the murder, was no proof of any evil intent of hers.

But on cross examination, Sam also admitted that once he left the saloon, he had no way of knowing what his employer did.  She could very well entertain men in her office, or her rooms, and no one would be the wiser, though Sam insisted that he was positive she did nothing like that.  ‘At least’, he said silently to himself, ‘not anyone but the Marshal.’

Stafford also put Matt on the stand to testify as to Kitty’s character and try to offer alternative answers for the evidence presented.  But when Ship got up to cross examine him, he twisted every one of Matt’s answers to make Kitty seem even more guilty, several times going over the line in Stafford’s opinion. 

But when Stafford would object, Henry, without fail, would overrule him and allow Ship free reign in his questioning.  It seemed to Matt that he was actually trying to get Kitty condemned and near the end of his questioning he stated so, vehemently.  His outburst though, helped Kitty none at all and earned him a contempt of court.

“That’s about what I have, Your Honor.”  He said as he left the stand.  “Contempt.”

After the evidence was presented and the instructions given, Judge Henry sent the jury out to deliberate and decide Kitty’s fate.   They weren’t out for long.  The next morning, Matt sat stoically beside Kitty as the jury filed back into the courtroom, having signaled that they had come to a verdict.  Twelve men who had sworn to judge Kitty, not by her reputation nor by her past, but by the facts of the case.  Matt wondered how seriously they took that oath.

Glancing over at Kitty, he saw what he expected; her face though pale, thin and void of most of her makeup, was composed.  She wore no discernible expression, even when someone in the back of courtroom, most likely Quaid Hill or one his bunch, shouted obscenities at her and called her a murdering whore.

Matt stood up when he heard the shout and angrily scanned the courtroom, as had Festus, but neither of them could ascertain who it was that had spoken and the guilty party spoke no more.

 

Once they were in their seats, the jury foreman handed a piece of paper to the bailiff, who then handed it to the judge.  Not a sound was made as the judge read the contents of the paper and then looked down on the defendant.  For several moments, he said nothing.  Then finally, he sat back and took off his glasses, wearily rubbing his eyes before placing them back on his head and addressing the jury.  “This is unanimous?”  He asked.

“Yes, your honor.”  The foreman replied, studiously avoiding even a glance at the defense table.

“Very well,” Henry said.  “Kitty Russell, will you please stand for the verdict?”

Stafford stood first, followed by Matt who took Kitty’s arm and helped her up.  He could feel her trembling as he did, and so, instead of releasing her, he held on tighter.

Kitty gave him a brief, grateful smile, but gently took her arm out of his.  Her message was clear.  She would do this alone.

Henry studied her for a moment then turned his attention back to the jury.  “Mr.  Foreman, in the case of the State of Kansas against Kitty Russell, what is your verdict?”

Slowly, the man turned and stared at Kitty before redirecting his gaze back to the judge.  The one look was all Matt and Kitty needed.  “We the jury, find the defendant, Kitty Russell, guilty of murder in the first degree.”

The courtroom exploded.  Shouts of anger and disbelief were mixed in with even louder shouts of joy that a murderer had been brought to justice.  The judge had to bang long and loudly and finally threaten to clear the courtroom, before he regained control.  As Marshal, Matt knew he should’ve helped in calming down the situation, but the only thing he could think of was Kitty.

When the noise finally settled down, Judge Henry eyed the defendant for several moments before finally laying the paper down on the desk and clearing his throat.  “Kitty Russell,” he intoned in a deep and foreboding voice.  “In so much that a duly appointed jury of your peers…”

“They weren’t her peers, Judge.”  Doc stood up.  He couldn’t take it and though he had promised her and Matt he would keep quiet, he could do so no longer.  “These men don’t have anything whatsoever in common with her.  Their for sure not her friends.”

“That’a boy, Doc.”  Festus chimed in.  “Stay right in that buggy.”

“Festus.”  Matt turned to hush him but several other voices joined his and once again the judge was left banging his gavel and screaming for quiet.

“Please!”  Kitty yelled loud enough for everyone to hear.  “Please everyone.  Please stop.  Let it go.  Please.”

Though her voice remained even, Matt could hear the anguish and he was tempted to pull her to him and reassure her with a kiss that she would be okay.  But he knew he couldn’t.  Instead, he settled for a reassuring hand on her arm.

When the noise once again died down, the judge started again.  “Miss Russell, in so much as a jury has listened to all the evidence in this case and found you guilty, I am now prepared to sentence you.  Before I do, however, do you have anything you would like to say to this court?”

Kitty raised sullen, dry and unblinking eyes to the man who would now determine whether she hung or spent the rest of her life behind bars.  In a loud yet gentle and calm voice she looked him straight in the eye and said, “I am not guilty, your honor.  I will accept whatever sentence you give me, because I have no choice.  But I will never accept guilt that I do not own.”

The judge gave her a long and thoughtful look before finally nodding.   “Very well.  Since you have been found guilty, and you do not show any sort of remorse for your actions, I have no choice but to sentence you to hang by the neck until dead.  In two day’s time, you will be transported by stage to Hays City where your sentence will be carried out the next morning.”

He paused, as he saw her sway just slightly on her feet.  But as the Marshal was bolstering her and she didn’t look as though she would faint, he nodded his head and banged loudly one last time on his gavel.

“Court is adjourned.”

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**The Rescue 3**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Kitty sat silently in her cell, knees to her chin; arms wrapped tightly around her legs, trying desperately to feel something, anything.  She was going to die for something she didn’t do.  Surely she should at least feel sad about that, perhaps scared.  But she didn’t, she felt numb instead. 

Burying her head in her arms, she closed her eyes and drew in a shaky breath, thinking of her life.  She’d made mistakes and missteps, and she knew there were choices she’d made that, in hindsight, were foolhardy.  But she also knew; she’d made some good choices too.  Staying in Dodge, falling in love with Matt, buying into the Long Branch.  She considered those to be the best decisions she’d ever made. 

In the last ten years of her life, she’d faced some tough and scary challenges.  She’d been kidnapped, hit, threatened, shot at and even shot and through it all she’d held the faith that somehow, in the end, it would be alright.  Either she’d figure a way out on her own or more likely than not, Matt would save her. 

But not this time. This time, she’d been helpless to save herself.  This time, Matt was helpless to save her.  And this time, she was going to die and nothing anyone could do would help her.

Up in Doc’s office, Matt paced restlessly, his hands in his back pockets and his mind in torment.  The judge, having heard rumors of his and Kitty’s relationship, had forbidden Matt to use the jail until Kitty could be escorted to Hays by a deputy who was even then on his way to do just that.  Several men of the town had been sworn in as acting deputies to guard the jail and the prisoner in the meantime. 

Matt knew she was safe, at least temporarily.  But still, it was difficult not being with her and knowing the kind of torment she must be in.

But Judge Henry’s instructions were clear.  Matt would continue in his duties as US Marshal with the exception that he was to have no interactions with the prisoner in his capacity as Marshal and would stay away from the jail as much as possible.  Any time he spent with Kitty would be purely personal, strictly monitored and limited.  Though it killed him, Matt had no other choice but to agree. 

Jeff Stafford had been to see Kitty and had assisted her in completing a will and settling her account at the bank.  Matt would be the beneficiary of the bulk of her estate with considerations for Sam, Doc and Festus. 

The saddened young man had also promised to valiantly continue the fight to clear her name but Kitty had no illusions that he would be able to do so.  Hard as it was, she accepted her fate.

As Matt paced, Doc sat slumped back in his chair, a cold cup of untouched coffee in his hand.  “I can’t believe this is happening.”  Doc said again.  “I can’t believe that any sane man would believe that girl guilty of murder.”

Matt nodded.  “I couldn’t believe it either, Doc.  If I had of thought they’d do this, I wouldn’t have arrested her.  I would’ve grabbed her up and…”

“No, you wouldn’t, Matt.”  Doc stopped him.  “You believe too much in that badge.  You wouldn’t have done anything different than what you did and Kitty wouldn’t have let you, even had you tried.  She’s always believed in that badge too.”

Matt gave a snort of contempt.  “Fat lot of good that did her.”  Pulling one hand from a pocket, he raked it agitatedly through his already disheveled hair.  “Doc, I can’t let them do this.  I just can’t.  You know as well as I do that Kitty didn’t kill Vic Treager.”

“Yes, I know it.”  Doc nodded wearily.  “And I also know that those 12 men, that sat in judgment of her, thought she not only could, but did.  And whether we like it or not, Kitty has been sentenced to hang because of it.”

“Well, I don’t like it.”  Matt seethed.  “I don’t like it at all and I’ll tell you something else, I’m not going to let it happen.  I am not going to just sit here in Dodge and do nothing, while Kitty is taken off to die like some…”  He stopped and took a ragged breath.  “I’m just not.”  He finished.

Doc looked up at him for the first time in two weeks with a spark in his eyes.  “It’d mean giving up your badge.”  He warned.  “Kitty was tried and convicted legally.  You do anything; you’ll have to do it outside the law.”

Matt stopped his pacing as Doc’s words settled in.  Looking down at his shirt, he fingered the badge that had held him in its sway for so long.  He realized he’d finally reached the spot where he had would have to make a choice.  His badge, and all the injustice that came with it, or Kitty and the knowledge that he and she would most likely have to spend the rest of their lives on the run.

Taking a deep breath, he unpinned the badge and held it tightly in his hand for a moment, before tossing it on Doc’s desk.  “I have no choice, Doc.”  He said with no hesitation.  “I’m going to save her, no matter what I have to do.  And that badge is not going to stand in the way.”

“It’s about time.”  Doc said as he excitedly got up from the chair.  “Now, how do we get her out of there, Matt?”

“ _We_  don’t.”  Matt gave him a stern look.  “At least not out of the jail.  Securities too tight.  They’ll expect us to try something.  It’ll have to be out on the trail somewhere and it’ll have to be me alone.”

“Alone?”  Doc questioned.  “Matt, you can’t do this alone.  You’re talking about holding up a stage and helping a prisoner escape.  You’ll be shot.”

Matt threw up his hands.  “Doc, I’ve investigated enough stage holdups to know what will work and what won’t and I know this countryside well enough to know the perfect place to do it. Believe me, when I say, I can do this alone.  Besides,” his voice lowered, “if I did happen to fail, I don’t want you or Festus or anyone else involved.  Kitty’s my responsibility.”

Doc scrubbed his mustache with an irritated jerk of his hand as he glared at the man beside him.  He disagreed completely with Matt.  “You’re not the only one that loves that girl, you know?  Me, Sam and Festus care about her too.  We don’t want to see anything happen to her and we’re just as eager to help as you are.”

“Doc, I know that.”  Matt shook his head in exasperation.  “But think about it.  If this goes off the way I plan, Kitty and I will be essentially on the run.  We’ll have to ride hard and fast.  It won’t be easy.”

Doc plowed his hands into pockets and turned away.  “No, it won’t Matt.”  He agreed.  “But it seems to me, you’re making it even harder on yourself by not accepting help.  Now, I agree, riding hard, cross country on horseback would be hard for me.  But there are still some things I can do.  And you can’t leave Festus and Sam out of this.”

“Leave us out of what?”  Festus asked from the doorway.  Matt and Doc had been so absorbed in their conversation they hadn’t heard him coming up the stairs or opening the door.

Matt fairly jumped and rushed to the door, taking a quick look outside and down the stairs, before closing it behind him.  “How much, of what we said, did you hear?”  He asked Festus.

“I heered ol’ Doc, here, say they was thangs he could do and you weren’t to leave me and Sam out of em.”  Festus answered.  “Leave us out a what?”

Matt took a deep breath and looked at his friends.  He really didn’t want to involve them in this but he knew Doc was right.  What he was planning could be easier accomplished if he had help.  Finally raising his eyes to Doc’s critical gaze and Festus’ curious one, he shrugged.  “I’m planning on a rescue, Festus.  And I guess I could use some help.”

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**The Rescue 4**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The next morning, Matt rose early.  He had a few things he needed to accomplish and a short time to get them done.  First thing on his list was Kitty.  

Though the men guarding her were under strict orders to watch and listen every second he was with her, they knew Matt Dillon and they trusted him.  Despite their orders, they backed away and allowed them a few minutes of privacy. 

Matt told Kitty very little as he got her to sign a blank check to be drawn on her bank account.  When he presented the check at the bank, Matt also drew out what little he had in his own account. 

After leaving the bank, Matt quickly crossed the street and went up to Doc’s office, giving him a portion of the money.  Few words were exchanged and Matt was once again on his way.  After leaving Doc’s office, he swiftly walked down the street to the stable, leaving a few minutes later.

His next stop was the Long Branch.  After a short and very private conversation with Sam, he finished the beer he’d ordered and finally made his way over to the tonsorial parlor where he got a bath, shave and haircut, before donning fresh clean clothes and heading out once again. 

His next stop that morning, was back at his room.  Going inside, he shut the door firmly behind him, only to reemerge a half hour later with his jacket on and a carpetbag in his hands. 

Once back out onto the street, he made his way over to the jail one last time.  As before, the men inside, respectfully backed away allowing this one last time with her.  The deputy from Hays was due in on the stage in a couple of hours and he would be taking her away the next morning.  The Marshal would be given no other time after this to ever see her again.

As the men backed off, Matt reached in the bars when Kitty approached and took her small cold hands into his.  “How are you doing?”  He asked, knowing all too well how she must be doing.

Forcing a smile to her trembling lips, she avoided his gaze, knowing he could read her too well.  Instead she focused on their clasped hands.  “I… I’m alright.”  She answered with no real conviction in her voice.  “Did… did you get my fune… everything taken care of for… for after?”  Matt had told her, and the men listening, that the check she’d signed was for the purpose of arranging her funeral after the hanging.

“Everything’s arranged, Kitty.”  He answered softly.  He wanted more than anything to tell her his real reasons for the money and what he’d been up to this day, but he didn’t dare.  “I’ve taken care of…”  he looked at the man lingering near the door,  “things.”  He finished.

Kitty nodded, finally risking a look at his face.  The last look she was ever likely to have.  What she saw, though, was not the pain and anger she expected.  Instead she saw, aside from his love for her, a calmness, a peaceful look of someone who’d just accomplished a long held goal.  “Matt?”  She wanted to ask why the look, but a guard stopped her.

“Times about up, Marshal.”  He said, not unkindly.

Matt nodded then looked back at Kitty.  “I… uh… I don’t know what to say, Kitty.”  He told her.  “Don’t guess there’s anything I can say that you don’t already know.”

Kitty looked back down at their entwined fingers and nodded.  “I know, Matt.”  She whispered.  “You… you take care of yourself, now.  You hear?  Don’t… don’t let this…”

“I won’t.”  He tugged at her hand until she raised her eyes to his one last time.  “You remember Pruitt Dover?”

Again Kitty saw that look in his eyes that confused her almost as much as the question.  But she did remember the young man that had hanged for murder and nodded.  “Yeah, I remember him.”

“Good.”  Matt smiled gently at her.  “Just hang on to that.”  Bringing her hand through the bars, he softly kissed the knuckles before releasing her and stepping back.  With one last loving glance and no further words, Matt turned and left the jail.

Kitty stood for several minutes looking at the door he had walked through.  Her mind went over and over the few words he had spoken.  Surely he couldn’t mean…  ‘No.’  She told herself.  Matt would never do that.  He had nearly been eaten alive by guilt when he had tried the one time.  He would never do it again.  Would he?

Shaking her head, she sat back down.  ‘No.’ She told herself again.  Matt was simply trying to tell her that as he had been there at the end for Pruitt, he would be there for her when she hung.  The thought, though sad, was in a way comforting.

Matt left the jail, easier of heart than he had since this nightmare had started.  He hadn’t intended on telling Kitty anything.  But seeing the hopeless look on her tearstained face, he couldn’t help himself.  He needed her to know that he wasn’t going to let her down.  That she would not have to die for something she didn’t do.  He hoped she got the message.

Retracing his steps back down the streets, Matt made it to the Dodge House just as Hank walked up, leading his horse. 

“You going to Hays, Marshal?”  The stableman asked curiously, eyeing the carpetbag in Matt’s hand and the missing badge on his chest.

“Nope, I’m not, Hank.”  Matt answered.  “I’ve done all I can for her.  I’m gonna take off and ride south.  Been meaning to go down there anyway and I think now’s the time to do it.  And I’m not Marshal anymore, Hank.  I sent in my resignation.”

“You coming back?”  Hank asked knowing the answer already.

“Don’t plan on it.”  Matt answered.

Hank nodded in understanding.  “Best that way, I reckon.  Who’s gonna handle her… will take care of her after…”  He didn’t want to say it.

“Doc.”  Matt answered.  “I gave him money and he’s going to arrange everything.”

Hank nodded again.  “That’s best too, I guess.”  Turning he started to walk away when a thought struck him.  “Is Festus gonna be in charge now?”

“Naw, I ain’t.” Festus answered as he walked up behind the stableman leading Ruth.  “I got me some family bidness east of chere.  I was just gonna leave my ownself.  I ain’t quite sure who’s gonna be in charge, but it don’t matter none, I don’t reckon.  Any town that’d let something happen like what’s done happened, ain’t no town I want’a be in no how.”

Hank saw the anger and pain in the hill man’s eyes as well as the now former law man’s and understood.  He had felt the same sense of injustice at the verdict.  But unlike Festus and the Matt Dillon, he wasn’t free to just pick up and leave when he wanted to.  “Well…”  He sighed as he turned once again towards the stable.  “You fellers take it easy and be careful.  Hope your rides are easy ones.”

“Thanks, Hank.”  Matt replied and watched Hank walk off before looking over at Festus.  “Everything ready?”  He asked quietly.

“Yep.” Was the deputy’s quiet reply.

“Good.”  Matt nodded.  “Then I guess I’d better be on my way.”

“Alright.”  Festus answered as he studied the people around them.  “Take care of yerself, Matthew.”  He said in a louder voice.  “Don’t you go down there in Texas and get in no trouble I got to come get ya out of, ya hear?”

Matt nodded with a slight grin.  “I won’t Festus.”  He said as he mounted his horse and rode out of town.  ‘I ain’t going to Texas.’ He thought.

TBC 


	5. Chapter 5

**The Rescue 5**

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Matt camped that night near a small creek just north of the trail.  Since leaving Dodge about mid-day, he’d ridden hard and long.  His horse was tired, as was he. But, though Buck would be able to rest for the night, he doubted he would.  Tomorrow morning he had an important task to accomplish, perhaps the most important task of his life, and of Kitty’s.

Sitting back against his saddle, he took a sip of the hot coffee he’d made and remembered the look on her face when he’d walked into the jail for the last time. Painful, reluctant acceptance of a fate she didn’t deserve, instead of the anger, and vengeance filled glare, most people would’ve had.  Tomorrow he planned on changing that.

Finishing his coffee, he was about to try for at least a couple of hours sleep when he heard someone coming.  Cautiously he pulled his gun and moved back into the shadows behind his camp, waiting to see who it was.

“Matthew?”  Festus’ called in his nasally twang.  “You here, Matthew?”

Swiftly holstering his gun, Matt quickly stood and came back out into the light of his fire just as Festus rode up, towing a pack horse laden down with packages and another saddled riding horse.  “Didn’t expect you till morning.”  He greeted his friend as he pulled up to a stop in front of him.

“Wael, I figgered it better I come on ahead.”  Festus shrugged as he dismounted.  “Didn’t take near as long to get these here supplies and horse as we thought.”

Matt looked over the provisions and extra mount with a critical eye, finally nodding his approval.  “Looks good, Festus.”  He smiled briefly.  “You or anybody have any trouble getting this?”

“Naw, shore didn’t.”  Festus answered as he bent down and helped himself to a cup of Matt’s coffee.  “Ol’ Doc got these here supplies together by sayin’ they was fer one of them sod buster families out west of town.  Sam got a bag a Miss Kitty’s thangs together and I bought this here horse from Ol’ man Hawkins.  Hawkins got some of the best horse flesh they is in these parts.”

Matt nodded in appreciation.  “He looks just fine.   I have a feeling we’re going to need something that’ll hold up under some hard riding.”

“Wael, that he will, Matthew.”  Festus grinned before the reason for that need settled in on him.  “Tomorra ain’t gonna be easy, Matthew.  We’s gonna have to be mighty careful.”

Matt nodded as he stepped over to the pack horse and started pulling its packs off for the night.  “I know, Festus.  But I’m not…”  He sighed deeply.  “Well, I can’t do anything else.”

Festus finished his cup of coffee and laid the cup beside the fire before stepping up beside Matt and helping him with the animals.  “I’d’a spit in yer eye, Matthew, were you to leave Miss Kitty to…  to… well, I would is all.  I’d just about figgered to do somethin’ my ownself afore you tolt me what you was a plannin’.”

Matt said nothing as he finished unsaddling the extra horse and helped Festus hobble the three animals for the night.  His thoughts weren’t on what Festus would’ve done or what was going to happen the next morning.  His thoughts were on a woman with vibrant red hair and beautiful blue eyes sitting in a jail cell waiting to be taken cross country to hang.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

While Festus and Matt were settling down to wait the night out, Kitty was sitting quietly on her bunk in the jail cell thinking about what the next day would hold.  The deputy from Hays had arrived and briefly introduced himself to her, telling her they would be leaving the next morning on the first stage out to Hays.

He warned her that he would treat her no differently than he would any other prisoner.  Her hands would be cuffed and she would be allowed no concessions because of her gender.  And she could expect no help from anyone else.  He promised her he would kill anyone who tried to help her and prevent justice from being done.  The sneer on his face when he told her that, left no doubt how he felt about her.  She was a murderer in his eyes and would be treated as such.

She supposed she couldn’t expect anything else.  The law had a hard view of convicted murderers and she was, in everyone’s eyes, just that.  Well, almost everyone.  She knew Matt didn’t feel that way about her, nor did Doc or Festus or Sam.  But they were in the minority and could do nothing about what was to happen. 

Or could they?

She kept thinking about Matt’s cryptic comment about Pruitt Dover.  Although she had decided that he had simply meant to comfort her, she couldn’t help but feel that he meant something more.  The look on his face told her he did. 

She remembered the young man that had been convicted of murder and sentenced to hang.  Of course, the circumstances had been different.  Dover had saved Matt’s life and there had been some wonder about whether he had actually killed Ax Parsons in cold blood or in self-defense.  Matt didn’t believe Pruitt to be a murderer and planned to let him go, despite what it might mean to his career and life.  The fact that Pruitt wouldn’t leave was the only thing that kept Matt from actually breaking the law. 

She was now feeling that Matt wanted her to remember his actions.  She had learned to read him whether he said anything or not and she was now certain that he planned on doing something to keep her from a hangman’s noose.  What, she had no idea.  She didn’t even know if he planned on doing it alone or would have help.  Either way, it didn’t matter.  Her belief, of earlier in the day, that Matt would be helpless to save her, was now replaced but by the belief that he was anything but helpless.  And tomorrow, she was sure, he would prove that.

As the hours ticked by and light gradually replaced the dark, Kitty laid her head down on the pillow and wearily closed her eyes, finally drifting off into a short sleep filled with a dream of a tall man with blue eyes riding to her rescue.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**The Rescue 6**

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Dawn usually snuck in on Matt on quiet feet, waking him from an often all too short sleep and rudely pushing him to get up and attend to his duties.  But not today.  Today Matt beat the dawn and greeted it with, if not glee, at least a sad eagerness, knowing his time to act was swiftly coming up.

“Ya reckon they’s on their way?”  Festus asked as he got up from his pallet.

“Probably just starting.”  Matt answered, pouring Festus a cup of coffee.  “I figure they’ll be near Indian Wells in a couple of hours.

“Ya figger to stop em there?”

Matt shook his head.  “Nope.  Country’s too wide open.  No place to set up.  But further north, about two miles, is a spot just about perfect for it.”

“They might be ready fer us.”  Festus warned, watching Matt closely.  “Might be spectin’ us to try something.”

Matt sipped on his own coffee with a shrug.  “They think I rode south to Texas and you rode east.  They know Doc’s not able to pull off anything like this and Sam will make sure to be plainly visible there in the Long Branch.  I think that Hays deputy will be careful, but since the stage is the safest way to travel, he won’t really expect any problems.”

“Wael,” Festus grinned, finishing his coffee and getting to his feet.  “He shore gonna get some today.  I garontee that.”

Matt nodded but didn’t reply.  He hoped the deputy was the only one that had any problems that day.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The next morning, Kitty woke from an all too short sleep, no more rested than when she’d closed her eyes.  Pulling herself to her feet, she vigorously rubbed her arms, trying to warm herself a little.  It was cold in the back of the jail and as a prisoner, she hadn’t been afforded comforts like an extra blanket.

“Care for some breakfast, Ma’am?”  Young Addison Furlough, one of the guards, asked as he opened the outer door and looked in on her. 

“No, thank you.”  Kitty attempted a smile but didn’t quite make it.  “I, uh.. I don’t think I could eat anything.”

The guard nodded.  “Yes, ma’am.  Guess I understand.  I could get ya some coffee, though.”

Kitty started to accept but the Hays deputy; Corey Aimsler walked up at the moment and shook his head.  “She won’t have time.”  He said as he stepped forward with chains and cuffs in his hands.  “Stage will be leaving in about half an hour.  Time to get you ready for the trip.”

With an apologetic look, the guard stepped back and left the deputy to tend to his prisoner.  He didn’t really know if Miss Kitty had killed Vic Treager or not but he sure didn’t think she’d gotten a fair shake in all of this.

“Step back from the bars and turn around.”  Aimsler ordered.

As Kitty complied, he opened the cell and came up behind her, cuffing her hands tightly behind her back.  “Nothing personal.” He half way smiled as he made sure they were good and snug.

Kitty winced at the discomfort but said nothing.  She sensed he was waiting for her to say or try something so that he could show her how the law dealt with criminals.

“Alright now, turn back around.”  He ordered when he had the cuffs secured.

Kitty did as ordered, and he saw him bending down in front of her with a set of chains in his hands.  She had of heard of prisoners having their feet chained but had never seen it.  Matt didn’t believe in it, and said once it wasn’t necessary if the law man knew what he was doing, unless he just wanted to be cruel.  That told her a lot about the deputy who would be taking her to Dodge.

With little preamble, Aimsler pulled the hem of her dress up and quickly snapped a set of irons around her slender ankles.  When he finished, Kitty started to take a step back from the leering man bending down in front of her, but he stopped her with a hand on her leg.

“Hanging you sure will be a waste.” He grinned up at her as his hand travel further north.

“Take your hands off of me.”  Kitty angrily warned him.

“What would you do if I don’t?”  He asked, not bothering to hide the look of lust in his light gray eyes.

“Uh hem.”  Addison stepped in, his eyes quickly taking in the scene and understanding what he’d interrupted.  “Deputy, the stage driver said he’s gonna be leaving in a few minutes, so you all’d better get on over there.”

“We’ll be right there.”  Aimsler snapped, expecting the young man to leave. 

But he didn’t.  Addison stayed where he was until the deputy finally took his hand off Kitty’s leg and stood up with a scowl on his face. 

Grabbing Kitty roughly by the arm, he jerked her forward towards the door.  “Come on.”  He demanded.  The abrupt movement made her stumble and fall forward as the short length of chain on her legs prevented her from taking a long enough step to prevent it.  But Aimsler caught her at the last moment and hauled her upright. “I said, come on.”

Kitty said nothing and did her best to keep up with the deputy’s long strides as they walked down to the stage depot, managing to only trip twice. 

What few people there were up at that time of morning, stood silently and unmoving as they watched her being roughly pulled down the street and shoved into the stage coach.  Even those who believed her guilty hung their heads at her treatment.

Once he had her inside the coach, he moved back and climbed out.  “I hear your boyfriend didn’t have the guts to stick with you.”  He smirked at her.  “But even so, I ain’t taking no chances.  I’m gonna ride up top with the driver and you’re gonna ride back here alone.  Should your boyfriend get some nerve or one of your other friends, I’ll shoot em before they can even get close.”

Kitty swallowed hard but gave him no reply.  She still felt like Matt was going to try something and though she badly wanted him to, she was now afraid of what might happen should he try.  She didn’t want to hang for a crime she didn’t commit, but she didn’t want Matt to die in attempt to save her.

As Aimsler slammed the coach door closed and climbed up top with the driver, Kitty closed her eyes and prayed fervently for Matt’s life, as well as her own.

 

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**The Rescue 7**

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Matt and Festus crouched low behind the heavy shrubbery on the north side of the road.  The stage should be coming anytime now and they were both ready.  Or at least as ready as they could be.  Neither one had ever held up a stage or robbed anyone in their lives, but they were going to do so today.

Matt took another glance at the tree he and Festus had cut down and dragged across the road.  It was positioned so that the stage would have to stop or else go down into the gully on south side of the road, as there was no open space on the north side.

Atop the stage, the driver, Bill Dudley, an older man with a dozen years under his belt as a driver, was moving the carriage at a fairly fast clip down the rough and rutted road at the direction of the deputy beside him.  He normally took this stretch of road at a slower pace.  But Corey Aimsler had made it clear he was in charge of things and would not tolerate anything less than top speed.

As they once again hit a particularly rough spot in the road, the driver looked over at the stern countenance of the man beside him.  “This road’s really rough, deputy.” He shouted to be heard.  “Ain’t safe to be moving this fast.  We hit something, even something small, and it could wreck us sure.”

“You just do as I tell ya.” Aimsler yelled back.  “I’m in charge of getting that murderer, back there, to Hays by tonight and I’m gonna do it, if I have to drive this thing myself.”

Looking into the gray eyes and scowling expression of his seatmate, Dudley had no doubts he would do it.  Turning back to his team, he snapped the reins forcefully and called “Haw!” 

Aimsler nodded with a grunt, satisfied that Bill Dudley knew who was really in charge of the stage.  He didn’t know that the first rough jolt had created a small crack in the singletree which was about to trump his authority.

Inside the coach, Kitty was doing her best to stay upright and in the seat, but she failed more times than she succeeded.  With her hands cuffed behind her, she was unable to hold on to anything or even put her hands out to brace herself.  The first time the stage jolted her, she was able to place her feet on the seat opposite and keep her place, but she hadn’t been so lucky the second time.

The second deep rut, tossed both the coach and the passenger briefly into the air, bringing them back down with a thud.  Kitty, unable to control her movement, fell hard against the back of the seat and then forward, landing on the floor with a painful crunch, where she stayed.

“Matthew,” Festus exclaimed in alarm as the stage came into view.  “Ain’t he a goin’ a mite fast?”

Matt watched in horror as the stage barreled down the road towards the barrier he and Festus had created.  He knew as fast as it was going, it’d never be able to stop in time.  “Festus, we’ve got to get that tree out of the way.”  He yelled as he dropped his gun and ran out into the road.

Festus followed suit and together, the two men managed to get the obstruction out of the way just as the stage came barreling past. 

But it was already too late. 

The small crack in the singletree had grown with each successive jolt and by the time the stage passed Matt and Festus, it was almost all the way through the thick board.  As the coach hit one more rut, it broke in two, freeing the horses from their burden and sending the coach into a free fall down into the gulch on the south of the road, where it tumbled over and over, finally coming to a halt near the bottom.

“Kitty!”  Matt yelled as he raced down the gully towards the coach, praying she had survived the crash.

Bill the driver, seeing what was about to happen, had jumped from the coach just before it went over and was lying on the side of the road. Festus ran over to him, hoping to find him unhurt, but kneeling beside him, he realized that hope was futile.  Upon landing, Bill had hit his head on a rock and now his sightless eyes were staring blankly at nothing.  Festus gently closed his eyes and headed towards where the mortal remains of Corey Aimsler rested.  But his fate was no better.  He lay on his back with a broken neck.  Festus knew he was dead before he even reached the body. 

Down in the ravine, he saw Matt had reached the stage and climbed on top, looking down into the coach.

“Festus, see if he’s got any keys on him?”  Matt called up, when he saw the chains and cuffs on Kitty.

Quickly, Festus searched the dead man’s pockets and found the keys in his vest. Pulling them free, he hurried down the gulch to the stage and tossed the keys up to Matt, who promptly climbed down into the coach.

“Kitty?”  He called her name as he knelt down beside her.  Quickly as he could, he removed the chains and then turned her to the side and unlocked the cuffs.  Her wrists and legs were severely bruised and abraded from the shackles and she had a gash on her forehead but she was breathing.  

“Matt?”  Her eyes fluttered open to see his concerned face in front of her and she thought she’d never seen a more beautiful sight.

“I’m here, honey.”  He smiled.  “Me and Festus are going to get you out of here.  You think you can get up?”

Kitty took stock of her condition for a second and then nodded.  “I think so.”  She answered.

“Good.”  Gently, Matt placed his hands around her waist, lifting her up to Festus who pulled her on top of the stage to sit and wait until Matt could climb out.  Once he was out, he jumped to the ground and pulled Kitty down into his arms and stood her on her feet.  “Think you can walk?”  He asked.

Kitty nodded but didn’t move.  “You need to get out of here, Matt.”  She looked up at him sadly.  “When this stage doesn’t show up in town, they’ll come looking for it.  You didn’t cause it, but you’ll be accused of it.”

Matt shook his head.  “As far as everyone knows, I rode south yesterday morning and Festus rode east.”

But Kitty shook her head.  “No, Matt, they’ll still blame you.  You have to go.  Please.  Don’t do this.  I’ll tell them what happened when they arrive but no one will know you two were here.  Matt, you have to do what’s right.”

Matt looked down at her and his heart broke at what she was willing to do for him.  She was willing to wait for the hangman to keep him safe.  Wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled her close.  “That’s what I’m doing, Kitty.”  He told her.  “I’m doing what’s right.”

When Festus jumped down from the coach, he and Matt, together, brought Kitty up to the road.  “What we gonna do now, Matthew?”  Festus asked.

Matt looked around at the area and then back down at Kitty, who was still holding tightly to him.  “We cover over two dead men and then we ride.” 

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**The Rescue 8**

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Late that evening, Matt and Festus stood a small distance from the fire that Kitty was sleeping beside.  Though banged up a bit by the stage wreck, she was essentially fine physically, just exhausted.  But both of the men knew emotionally, it was a different story. 

“She’s shore been through it, Matthew.”  Festus said as he glanced across at the sleeping red head.

Matt nodded as he plowed his hands into his pockets.  “I know.  More than her share.  Thank God she wasn’t hurt worse than she was in that wreck.”

Festus nodded.  “Been thinkin’ that my ownself.  Which a way do ya figger we oughta head in the mornin’?  If’n they ain’t found that there stage by now, they’ll find it shore by tomorra.  We cain’t be pussy footin’ around in these parts fer long.”

Matt nodded again and took a deep breath, once again stealing a look over at Kitty, to reassure himself that she was fine.  “I think we should cut cross country and head up into the mountains.  We could pretty much get lost up there and no one would find us.”

Festus stood silently for a while.  “You figger she’ll be happy up there?”

Matt dropped his head with a shrug.  “I figure she’ll be alive and safe and right now that’s more important than anything else.  Besides, we don’t have to stay up there for ever.  A couple of years, when they stop looking so hard, we’ll find us a small town we can settle down in and be just fine.  But I do think it should be just me and Kitty, Festus.”  Matt looked over at his friend.  “You’ve done more than you had to and no one knows you were involved.  You go on back now and no will be the wiser.  They’ll never be able to connect you to us.”

Festus gave him an angry glare before waving a hand and turning away.  “Naw, naw, I ain’t a leavin’ you all jes yet.  It’s a way yet afore you’d be anywhere’s near safe.  Sides, what do I got back in Dodge, or any place else.  Least ways, here I feel like I’m a doin’ somethin’ worth somethin’.”

“It’s liable to get even more risky the further we go.”  Matt tried one more time to give him an out.

“So it gits risky.”  Festus said.  “Ain’t no never mine to me.  I ain’t scart of a little risk.”

Letting off a grateful sigh, Matt reached over and clasped his friend’s shoulder.  “Thank you, Festus.  I don’t guess I could ask for any better a friend.”

“Aw.”  Festus muttered, head down and kicking a clod of dirt at his feet.  “I guess you’d best get your ownself some sleep, Matthew.  Mornin’ is gonna come awful early.  I’ll sit first watch.  Cain’t sleep much no how.”

Matt looked up.  “You sure?” 

“You go ahead on.  Miss Kitty’ll likely need you to warm her up some.”  Festus gave him a slow grin.

He turned back to the fire.  “Thank you, and good night.”

“Night, Matthew.”  Festus watched as Matt stepped back over to where Kitty was laying and wearily dropped down to the ground beside her, pulling her tightly into his arms.”

“I shore do hope it is a good night.”  Festus thought as he walked over to the fire, sat down and poured himself a cup of coffee, ready to sit vigil on his friends.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

“Do you think it was Dillon?” 

Sheriff Orville Tate looked down with a sigh.  He liked Matt Dillon, always had.  To Tate, Matt Dillon was what every lawman should be.  But Tate was no fool.  He’d heard the many rumors of Dillon’s relationship with the beautiful saloon owner and had even seen it once, on a rare occasion that both Matt and Kitty had come to Hays together.  He knew if Kitty Russell was his, he would have helped her escape, and he was not nearly as brave or resourceful as Matt Dillon.

“Well, do you?”  Judge Henry demanded to know.

Tate shrugged, running his hand nervously around the brim of his hat as he held it tightly.  “I don’t think so.  The driver and Aimsler are both dead and of course can’t talk.  But everybody here in town says they saw Marshal Dillon ride off south.”   It wasn’t much help and he knew it but it was the best he could do for his friend.

“Can you tell if Miss Russell’s friends, _who ever they are_ , caused that wreck?”  Henry scrutinized the older, overweight man in front of him.

Tate shrugged.  “Not for sure.  There was a tree down but it wasn’t blocking the road and the singletree was broke right in half on the stage.  It wasn’t cut.  That rough road they were on could’ve been responsible for that if they were going too fast.  And by the looks of things they were sure doing that.  Aimsler wasn’t too bad a deputy but he was kind of reckless.  Could be, he was pushing that driver to hurry so’s he could get his prisoner to Hays as quick as possible.”

Henry sighed in frustration.  “So you can’t say for certain that Dillon didn’t hold the stage up?”

“I can’t say for sure that anyone did.”  Tate’s head came up.  It seemed like the judge was determined to make Matt Dillon the scape goat in this whether he was responsible or not.  “But like I told you, he’s got witnesses that will swear he rode south.”

Henry raised a brow at the Sheriff’s tone but chose to ignore it for the time being.  Taking a couple of pieces of paper from the desk in front of him, the US Marshal’s desk that he had taken over, he quickly began to write.

 “I’m issuing a warrant with a sizeable reward for Kitty Russell.  Anyone finding her can hang her on the spot with the full authority of the law and still claim the reward.  And I’m issuing another warrant for the arrest of anyone found in her company.”  Henry said, as he signed his name with a flourish and held the paper up towards the Sherriff.  “Now go do your duty.  I want them found.”

Reluctantly Sheriff Orville Tate took the papers and looked down on the words written there, then back up at the Judge.  “Judge…”  He started to protest.

But Henry waved him.  “Do your duty Sheriff, or I will find someone better able to do it for you.”

Tate gave the judge a scowl as he placed his hat on his head and turned for the door.  “I’ll go send off some wires.” 

Henry watched the Sheriff leave and sat back in the chair with a half smile playing on his lips.  “Well, Mr. Dillon.  If you didn’t help your girlfriend, it’s a certainty you won’t be able to do so now.  I’ll show you who’s in contempt of whom.”

 

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**The Rescue 9**

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For the next two weeks, the fugitive trio traveled west, keeping away from towns and settlements and going off trail anytime they saw or heard anyone.  Conversations were sparse between the three, having little to say and a lot to think about. 

Often, Matt would look over at his lovely traveling companion and shake his head at the injustice done to her.  Always naturally thin, she was positively gaunt now.  During the two weeks she spent in jail, she seldom touched food and since they’d rescued her from the stage, her appetite hadn’t picked up.  He worried about how frail she had become.

But his worry wasn’t only for the weight she’d lost or the paleness of her skin.  Her whole demeanor had changed.  Kitty had always been strong and resilient and not too many things ever got her down.  But the fact that she had been close to being hung for something she hadn’t done, and was now on the run from the law, had served to knock her down and had kept her down. 

As each day passed, she seemed to whither a little more.                Matt knew they were going to have make some changes and soon. 

They had been camping each night where they could.  Each place out of sight and easily guarded and easily scrubbed of their presence the next morning before they left.

This night they had found an old barn sitting next to a burned out cabin.  It wasn’t much but it helped knock off the wind.  Little was said as the three settled in for the night, Kitty fixing them supper while Matt and Festus took care of the animals.

Once supper was completed and their dishes cleared and cleaned, Festus, as was his custom, excused himself and stepped out of the dilapidated structure to ‘tend to bidness’ and of course take first watch.

Matt sat back against the barn wall and looked over at where Kitty sat next to a small fire adding a few small pieces of wood to keep it going without building it up too high.  Despite two weeks on the trail and the many hardships she’d endured, as well as her ever dwindling figure, he still thought her the most stunning woman he’d ever seen.

Kitty noticed his intense scrutiny and looked up, giving him her best fake smile.  “Today was a pretty day.”  She remarked.

Matt nodded.  “Yep, but this late in the year, days like this will be fewer and further apart.”

Kitty looked down at the fire.  “What are we going to do, Matt, when winter sets in?”  She added another piece of wood.  “I suspect places like this are going to be hard to find the further into the  mountains we go.”

Matt nodded again.  “Yeah, I know that, Kitty, but I know a place north of here where we can winter and be pretty sure of going undetected.  It’s an old trapper’s cabin.  I haven’t been up there in a long time but I think it’d be a good place to hole up till spring.”

“What if someone else is already there or it’s burned down or…”  Her head came up to question him.

“Kitty,” he stopped her. “No body knows about that cabin but me and the man who built it and he’s dead.  And cabins don’t usually burn down on their own.  And even if it did, we should have enough time before the snow flies to get something fixed up.”

Kitty sighed and looked back down again without reply.  She hated this, hated what she’d lost and would never get back but hated even more what Matt and Festus had given up to save her.  Unsuccessfully stifling a tear she looked up at Matt.  “I’m sorry, Matt.  I wish more than anything that things were different.  You and Festus have done so much…”

Matt swiftly left his spot by the wall and moved over next to her, pulling her into his arms, kissing her on the crown of her head.  “Kitty, you have nothing to be sorry for.  You didn’t do anything wrong. This mess wasn’t your doing.”

“But if you hadn’t pulled me from that stage and…”

Matt gently gripped her shoulders, turning her slightly so she could see his face.  Placing a finger under her chin, he raised her eyes to his.  “If I hadn’t pulled you from that stage, I’d have lost my reason for living.  Lord, girl, don’t you understand how important you are?  Not only to me, but to Festus as well as Doc, Sam and quite a few others.  I can’t speak for Festus, but I can tell you I have not lost anything I can’t do without.”

With her finger, Kitty traced the spot on his chest where his badge used to rest.  “Even your badge?”  She watched his face closely for the truth.

“Even that.”  He answered without hesitation.  “I love you and if I have to give up a job to keep you safe and with me, then so be it.”

“But your badge wasn’t just a job, Matt.”  She protested.  “It was your life.”

“Un, huh.”  Matt shook his head.  “You are.  Like I said, I love you.”

Kitty buried her head in his chest, fresh tears replacing the old ones.  “I love you too.”

“Good.  Now what do you say, we lay down here and get a little sleep so we can start out fresh in the morning?”

Though she doubted she could sleep, Kitty nodded and settled down on her blanket.  “Stay with me?”

Matt stretched out beside her, and pulled her back against him.  “Can’t think of anyplace else I’d druther be.”

As the two of them settled down for the night, Festus warily walked the perimeter of the old farm yard and kept his eyes to the east.  Something didn’t feel right.  Though they had been extraordinarily cautious and taken every care they could at making sure to leave no trace of a trail behind them, he had a feeling it hadn’t been enough.  He could feel someone out there.

Several miles to the east, eight men sat around a fire sipping hot coffee.

 “Pitts, are you sure we’re on the right trail?” The tall, powerful man with the hazel eyes, sandy brown hair and slight scar near his hairline asked.

Culver Pitts, older, sinewy with a full head of iron gray hair, wearing buckskins that looked as old as he did, nodded.  “I’ve been a tracker for a number of years.  I can follow a snowflake in a blizzard.  These ones, we’re a followin’, has been awful careful and I ain’t never seen nobody cover their tracks as good as they have.  But they ain’t been so careful I couldn’t find em.  Trust me, Hill.  We’s on the right trail.”

Quaid Hill lay back with a pleased grin and took another sip of his coffee.  Every since he had found out that Kitty Russell had escaped and gotten away, he had been determined to find her and see to it that she hung as she was sentenced to.  Vic Treager had been like a brother to him, and he would not rest until he saw her dead.

“They ain’t gonna be easy to take.”  Roman Haddock spoke up.  “If they’s good enough to keep her this long, they’re probably pretty tough.”

Hill looked over at one of the saddle tramps he’d hired to come along as an extra gun.  He had little care for the stringy headed blond with the permanent sneer but, like the others, the man was good with a gun so he kept him.  “You let me worry about that.”  He answered.  “Your job’s just to back me up.”

As the talk died down and the men settled in for the night, Seth Brody sat back against his saddle, an unhappy expression on his face.  He hated what had transpired so far and he knew that chances were things were only going to get worse.  He hadn’t wanted any of this to happen, but it had and now all he could do was see it through.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**The Rescue 10**

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The next morning, while the men saddled the horses and gathered water, Kitty used their dwindling supplies to make breakfast for them.  She felt better this morning than she had in a month and thought she just might be able to eat a bite with them.

Matt watched her for a few minutes, noticing the chance in the way she carried herself.  She seemed a little lighter this morning and he was grateful for that because if he was right, her happiness could be short lived.  Looking over at Festus, he saw him looking back the way they had come several times and knew he wasn’t wrong.

“How far behind us, do you think they are?”  Matt asked quietly as he threw a blanket on Buck and then his saddle.

Festus wasn’t surprised at the question.  Matt was better than he was at sensing trouble.  “I figger about a day.”  Festus answered.  “It shore wouldn’t hurt us none to find us a hole to get into.”

Matt nodded as he tightened up the cinch of his saddle.  “Been thinking the same thing, my self.  There’s no place close where we can go to ground, but the quicker we get into that rocky terrain north of here, the harder it’ll be for them to follow us.  We get in those mountains; I know a place we can go where we’re not likely to be found.”

“Breakfast is ready.”  Kitty called from behind them.

“We’re coming.”  Matt called back over his shoulder than looked over at Festus, speaking softly.  “Let’s not say anything to Kitty, huh?  No need to worry her if we don’t have to.”

“You betcha.”  Festus agreed.

As Kitty spooned up a plate for each one, she told them how low they were on supplies.  “We’ve got maybe enough coffee for a few more days but we’re almost out of flour and beans.  We really need to get some more supplies.

Matt and Festus gave each other a worried glance but said nothing, just nodded.  “There’s a small town half a days ride from here.”  Matt told her.  “We should be able to get everything we need in there.”

Kitty nodded.  “I’ll get you a list together since I won’t be able to go in with you.” 

She said it rather matter of factly, but Matt could tell it bothered her.  “I don’t see why you can’t.”  He spoke up, seeing a slight surprised smile on her face.  “We might have to hide your hair under a hat or something, but I think getting supplies together would go a lot quicker with you picking them out.  You know what we’ll need and how much and so forth.” 

“Really?”  She asked, hopefully.  “I mean, well… what if… what if they… well, if word has already reached…”

“Well, it could’ve.”  He acknowledged.  “But I doubt it.  It can takes months sometimes before little towns on the frontier receive news of any kind.  Besides, this place doesn’t have even have a law man.  The US Marshal assigned to this territory is supposed to check on it every once in a while but that’s about it.”

Kitty looked at him curiously.  “Well, how do they keep bandits from robbing them all the time?”

Matt chuckled.  “Oh, they have their ways.  Every person in that town is armed to the teeth.  If anybody so much as twitches suspiciously they shoot first and ask questions later. That’s another reason though, why I think we all ought to ride in.  It’ll be safer if we’re together.”

“Wael,” Festus said as he sat his empty plate down and got to his feet.  “We ain’t gonna git there if’n we don’t head on out.”

“That’s for sure.”  Matt said as he too got up.  “Let’s go.”

Later that day, as the trio descended into the small hamlet of Turtle Crick, Matt and Festus made sure to flank Kitty on either side.  Wearing her hair in a tight bun and tucked up under her low brimmed hat, Kitty kept her head down and said nothing as they dismounted and made their way into the tiny town’s lone general store.  Though wearing jeans and a too large shirt, it was still obvious that she was a woman, but at least not obvious _which_ woman.

Once inside the store, Kitty handed a list of needed supplies to the clerk and then looked around at what else he had to offer while he filled her order.  Her eye lit on a pale blue gingham dress hanging on a rack.  For several seconds her hand rested on the garment before she gave herself a slight shake of the head and moved on, picking up a few other items that were needed.

Though she said nothing and didn’t even pick it up and try it against her, Matt could tell she was interested in it.  Since they’d been on the run, she wore nothing but jeans and he knew she longed to dress like a woman instead of a ragged cowboy.  While she continued to look around and Festus gathered much needed ammunition and a couple of other things he needed, Matt stepped over and picked up the dress, handing it to the clerk as he added up their bill.  “You need anything else to go with that?”  He asked the surprised red head.

Kitty swallowed hard and nodded, quickly claiming a few undergarments.  They had agreed, before going into the town, that none of them would say much, so Kitty held her tongue, but the loving and grateful look she gave Matt, told him, more than anything she could have said.

Later that night, after supper was done, the animals attended to and Festus had taken his bedroll to the small camp he’d made for himself some distance away from Matt and Kitty’s, Kitty gave Matt more than just a grateful look for the simple gift he had given her.

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

**The Rescue 11**

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Quaid Hill was furious.  Never had anything or anyone frustrated him as the red headed saloon owner had.  He, and the men with him, had been following her and her accomplices for close to a month now and just when his tracker assured him they were close; she had somehow managed to slip away.  They had followed them as far as Turtle Crick and found out that two men and a woman had bought a lot of supplies there.  But after that, nothing.  They had practically disappeared.

“I thought you could follow a snowflake in a blizzard.”  He growled at the grizzled old tracker, Culver Pitts.

Pitts took a step back from his fury and scratched his head.  “I ain’t never tracked anyone and lost em.  This here is the first time.  I told ya; them that is with her is good.” 

Hill closed the distance between himself and Pitts and grabbed the old man by the collar of his shirt.  “Are you saying you’ve lost them for good?”

For the first time in a long time, Pitts actually felt frightened of someone.  He had thought he’d lost that fear long ago when he reached what he thought of as his old age, but Quaid Hill proved him wrong.  “N… no.”  He stammered.  “I… I’ll find em again.  I swear; I’ll find em.”

“You’d better.”  Hill shoved the old man backwards as hard as he could.

Seth Brody and the other men stood off to the side watching the scene play out before them, all of them with a smile on their faces.  Most of the men thought it funny and chuckled as they watched Pitts scramble backwards trying to keep from falling. 

But Brody had an entirely different reason for smiling about the situation.  For reasons of his own, he hadn’t wanted Kitty, and the men with her, to get caught.  He hoped they would escape completely.  But the next words from Pitts dashed that hope.

“I maybe ain’t got no idee’s where they’s at right now.”  The old man groveled.  “But I got me an idee where they’s headed.  They’s a tradin’ post about 30 miles northwest of here.  It’s the most likely place fer them to head to.”

“What makes ya think that old man?”  Haddock asked.  “They done got supplies in Turtle Crick.”

Pitts glared at the insolent tone and visage of the younger man and turned his attention back to his employer.  “The weather’s gonna be changin’ soon.  It’s getting colder and it won’t be long afore it snows.  Ya cain’t last in these mountains, ya don’t have some place to shelter.  As far as I know, that tradin’ post is the only shelter fer a hundred miles, unlessin’ they build their own.  And I don’t think they got time to do that afore winter sets in hard.”

A curious light came into Hill’s eyes just then and it chilled Brody to see it.  Pitts may have lost them, but apparently it was only temporary and unless something happened to change it they would find their quarry.  Brody maintained his smile, which was now fake.  But inside his gut was churning. 

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Three weeks had passed, since the trio of fugitives had visited Turtle Crick, and so far so good.  

They had found the cabin and though it was musty and dirty, the roof and walls were mostly solid.  The large stone fireplace and the small wood stove at the center of the long room were both in working order it seemed  and the small bed in the tiny alcove off the main room was still serviceable, though in dire need of cleaning.  The plain plank table was as solid as it could be but the lone chair was missing a leg.

“Well, I’ll make ya a stool, Miss Kitty.”  Festus grinned at her.  “Don’t ya fret ya self about that none.”

The small barn, just behind the cabin, was okay despite the door that hung by only one hinge and the roof that had a small hole in the corner.  But both structures were in fairly good shape even though they’d sat empty for a couple of years.  With a will, Matt and Festus took several days to go over each building, repairing anything that needed it and inspecting and repairing the roofs.  

Kitty, in the meantime, spent that time cleaning the insides of both buildings and making them habitable for both man and beast.   The work soothed her mind as well as her soul and took her thoughts off of what she could do nothing about and onto something she could.

Aside from their work on the cabin and barn, the men had taken turns hunting and combing the countryside around them, covering any tracks that could lead to them and making sure there were no predators close by, either animal or human.  The meat they had acquired, as well as the hides and the knowledge of their safety, they knew, would help them tremendously once the snow started flying.

By the evening of the fifth day, they were sitting inside the small two room cabin enjoying a stew and a cake that Kitty had made and looking forward to their first night inside, in close to two months.  After their meal, the three friends sat around the fire relaxing and enjoying the evening.  Kitty sat beside Matt, his arms around her while Festus sat opposite them.

“That shore was some larruping vittles, Miss Kitty.”  Festus complimented.  “I shore did like that.”

“Thank you, Festus.”  She smiled at him.  “It wasn’t exactly Delmonico’s best but I’m glad you liked it.”

“Delmonico’s never had food that good, Kitty.”  Matt told her.  “And the cooks they had, were never as pretty either.”

Kitty grinned up at him.  “Thank you, Mr. Dillon.  You keep that up and I may have to do something extra special for you.”  She whispered with a raised a brow and a provocative smirk.

Festus pretended he didn’t hear but the happiness in her voice did his heart good.  The last two months had tough for her and he had begun to think she’d always look frightened and pale.  But the last few days, as they all worked to secure a safe place for the winter, had been good for her and, while still thin, her color had returned with her smile.  He was glad for that.  Her and Matthew deserved to be happy.

“Wael,”  Festus gave an exaggerated yawn as he got to his feet and reached for his coat.  “I figger I’ll go out and check on my mule and get me some shut eye.  I’m thinkin’ on doin’ some fishin’ in the morning.  They’s a crik not too far, looks plumb full of fish.”

“Alright, Festus.”  Kitty told him as she pulled away from Matt and got to her feet as well.  “I’ll leave a lamp on for you when you get back.  I’m going to clean up from supper and then I’m going to bed too.”

“Aw, no, Miss Kitty.”  He gave a meaningful look to Matt.  “I’m gonna stay in the barn tonight.” 

“No, Festus.”  Kitty protested.  “There’s no need to sleep in the barn.  You should stay in here where it’s warm.”

“Naw, now, Miss Kitty.”  Festus shook his head.  “It taint that cold out and I’m kinda used to the stable anyways.  I’ll be plumb fine.  You all have ya selves a nice night, and I’ll see ya tomorra.”

Kitty started to protest further but  she knew he was trying to give her and Matt a little privacy while the weather allowed it.  Matt had already warned them that once winter set in they would all be crammed into the cabin for most of the day.  Wisely she nodded with a simple, “Thank you, Festus.”  And gave him a kiss on his reddened cheek as he left the cabin, closing the door firmly behind him.

Matt looked over at her when the door closed.  “You really going to clean the dishes?  Now?”

Kitty tilted her head with a sly grin.  “I thought I would.  Why?  You know of something else I can do?”

Matt chuckled as he got to his feet and grabbed her hand, leading her towards the small closet sized bedroom.  “I think so.”

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

**The Rescue 12**

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The next morning Kitty woke with a good feeling.  Matt was already up and gone, of course, but by the smell of it, not before making a pot of coffee.

Pulling herself up, she reached for the jeans and shirt she’d worn for the last two months until her eye landed on the blue gingham dress Matt had bought her.  Though not nearly as fancy as the clothes she used to wear, it was certainly a lot more special.  Chucking aside the jeans and the old worn shirt, she smiled as she grabbed the dress and the underclothes she’d gotten with it and began to dress. 

When she finally emerged from the bedroom, she found a pot of coffee on the stove and a note.  “Working on something.”  It said.  “Be back in time for dinner.  If you see anyone other than me or Festus; hide.”

Shaking her head in wonder at what he could be working on, Kitty smiled happily as she remembered their evening together.  It was a gift to be here she decided, despite the circumstances.  For now at least, she and Matt and Festus were safe and alone and in a way, happy.  Still, she wondered how long that happiness would last.

Not too far from the cabin, Matt and Festus were busily engaged in cutting down trees and trimming them, readying them to be pulled down to the cabin.

“Ya know, Matthew.”  Festus grunted as he cut one branch after another off the sturdy tree he’d just chopped down.  “We ain’t got ta do this.  I kin sleep in the barn.”

“Maybe so,” Matt replied as he stopped and wiped the sweat from his brow.  “But you know Kitty.  She’d never allow it and I think she deserves to have what she needs and wants, don’t you?”

“Yes’ir.”  He answered.  “I shore do.”

Four hours later, two very weary men, trudged back down to the cabin, cheered by the smell of food cooking.  “We’d better clean up before we go in there, Festus.”  Matt told him.  “Kitty’ll kick us out of there if we don’t.”

“I reckon yer right.”  Festus grinned. 

When the two finally walked through the cabin door, they were greeted by the smell of stew and biscuits and the sight of a beautiful woman in a blue gingham dress with a smile on her face.  “I was hoping you would get here pretty soon.  Stew’s no good if it cooks too long and I just now pulled the biscuits from the oven.”

With identical grins both men quickly sat down at the table and filled their plates with the delectable smelling food.  Matt grabbed a spoon to dig in, but Kitty stilled him with a hand on his arm.  “Would you say grace?”  She asked.

“Grace?”  Matt looked a little puzzled.  This was the first time, since he’d known her, she’d requested for grace to be said over a meal.

“Yeah, that’s right.  Grace.”  Kitty nodded.  “I just thought… well… I mean, well…” She wasn’t sure how to explain it but somehow it felt wrong to dig into their meal without giving thanks for what they had, especially as she thought about what could’ve been.

“Yeah.”  Matt said with a smile in her direction.  “Grace it is.”  Waiting a moment for Kitty and Festus to bow their heads, Matt followed suit and closed his eyes, trying to think of a suitable prayer.  “Lord, we thank you for this meal and for the hands that prepared it.  We ask you bless it to the nourishment of our bodies and keep us safe and together.  And we thank you for all you’ve given us.  Amen.”  Though not very original, he decided it was good enough when he saw the smile on Kitty’s face.

“Thank you.”  She said quietly.

After dinner was over, Matt and Festus got up and prepared to return to their labors.  “What are you two doing?”  Kitty asked curiously.

“It’s a surprise.”  Matt grinned as he bent down and gave her a kiss before leaving.

For two days, Matt and Festus continued to cut and trim trees, always with an ear out for any sound coming from the direction of the cabin.  Matt was certain they were safe and that their location was secure, but he wasn’t about to take any chances, not after all of this.

When the men decided they’d felled enough trees, they began the arduous task of hauling them down to the cabin using the horses and Ruth.  Matt knew once they started the next phase of their work they’d not be able to keep the secret from Kitty so he planned on telling her when they got the first trees to the worksite.  He hoped she’d be pleased.

Kitty was sitting quietly on the bench near the fireplace, mending Matt’s extra shirt when she heard noise outside.  Cautiously, she rose and looked out of one of the cabin’s small windows on the western side of the building.  With a puzzled look, she grabbed her coat and slipped it around her shoulders before going out to see what was going on.

“What are you two doing?”  She asked as Matt and Festus brought the animals to a halt at the end of the cabin.

“We’re building you a worry free room.”  Matt told her with a grin.

“A what?”  Kitty looked from one man to the other with a crinkled brow.

“You heard me,” Matt said.  Handing the reins of his horse to Festus, Matt stepped over and pulled Kitty into a hug.  “Me and Festus got to talking, Kitty, and we decided to add a room to the cabin.  It’ll be much bigger than that little sleeping alcove and it’ll have a sturdy door between it and the rest of the house.  When it’s done, you and me will move in there and Festus will take over the sleeping alcove.” 

Glancing back at Festus to make sure he didn’t hear his next words, Matt gave Kitty a slow smile.  “You won’t have to worry about him sleeping out in the barn and I won’t have to worry about him interrupting us while we’re in there, or even hearing us.” 

He said the last with a lifted brow and Kitty knew exactly what his meaning was. “Oh, Matt.”  She jumped and kissed him.  “I love you.” 

“I love you too.”  He smiled.  “Now why don’t you go on and let us get this thing started.  It’s gonna be a long winter unless we get this done before then.”

“And we wouldn’t want that.”  She grinned.  “You two work on that and I’ll make sure you have plenty of food to keep you going.”

As Kitty returned to the house, Festus paused and watched her and then looked at the grin on Matt’s face.   “Ya know, Matthew.”  He stroked his chin slightly.  “It shore is pleasin’ to the eyeballs to see Miss Kitty that happy.”

Matt looked at the cabin and back at his friend.   “It sure is, Festus.  And as long as I’m breathing, I’m going to see to it that she stays that way.  Come on, this get this room built. 

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

**The Rescue 13**

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“Six damn weeks,” Quaid Hill grumbled to no one in particular.   He had been at the trading post now for six weeks now and still no sign of the red head and the men with her.  He’d string that fool Pitts up by the thumbs if he hadn’t already taken off, followed not long after by the idiot Haddock.  The only ones who’d stayed were Brody and the four bums drinking out in the barn.  He was sure they’d stay for the money he was paying them but he wasn’t too sure of Brody.

“Awful cold out.”  Brody mentioned as he sat down at the table across from Hill.  “Old man Musgrove says its likely snow will start just anytime now.”

Hill glanced at him with a scowl.  “Ya got any more good news on ya?”

Brody watched Hill for a moment before replying.  “I think we need to pull out of here as soon as we can.  Its obvious Pitts didn’t know what he was talking about.  He lost them at Turtle Crick and tried to cover by steering us here.  He’d a stayed otherwise.   We oughta just quit and go home.  Ya got a good business in Dodge.  Ya need to go home and tend it.  You and Vic worked hard to build it; it’d be a shame to let it go.”

“Vic.” Hill said the dead man’s name with a mixture of fondness and anger.  “If he hadn’t of tried taking that woman on alone he’d be alive and I wouldn’t be here.  I told him we should just leave her be.  It was sure she wasn’t about to tumble to either of us.  But nooooo…  He just to try her.  Damn fool.  He shoulda at least had me go with him.  Then we’d both had a taste of her and he’d be alive.”

Brody said nothing as he listened to the man ramble.  There wasn’t much to say.  “Well,” He said when Hill was again quiet.  “Vic is dead.  But you ain’t and like I said, you ought to go back home.  You know, someone could’ve found that Russell woman by now and hung her already.”

“Don’t try to cheer me up.”  Hill sighed as he got to his feet.  “Cold or not, I gotta take a leak.” 

Brody silently watched him get up and leave, shaking his head at the insanity of it all.  He knew he should just get up and go home.  Even if Kitty Russell and her accomplices were anywhere around this area, they probably wouldn’t come near this place or any where else they could be seen.  But something inside of him wouldn’t let him do it.  As badly as he wanted to leave, he couldn’t do it.  He would need to stay and see this thing through whatever the outcome.

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Kitty looked out the window and then around the room Matt and Festus had built.  Including the small space curtained off for a washroom.  Though it was only big enough for a chamber pot and a tiny stand with a wash basin it was a luxury in these mountains and she was grateful for it.  Of course it wasn’t on the scale of her rooms over the Long Branch, but she knew she’d probably never see them again.

Rubbing her stomach, she willed the nausea away along with the dizziness that had been assailing her for the last couple of weeks.  She needed to get up and go fix dinner but she’d been having trouble convincing her body of that.  Still, Matt and Festus had been outside all morning trying to get as much done as they could before winter set in for good and she knew they’d be hungry when they got back inside.

Pushing herself up from the bed, she made her way into the main room and pulled out the coffee canister only to discover it was almost empty.  Checking her other supplies, she realized that once again they were just about out.  Though Matt and Festus had been able to provide plenty of fresh meat they had precious little of everything else.  She’d mentioned to Matt two weeks prior that they were running low on supplies but now they were beyond low.

Sighing, she used what little they did have to make a decent meal for two hungry men and decided she’d have to send one of them into town for what they needed.

When the men sat down to the table she wasted no time.  “We need supplies, Matt.”  She sighed as she sat down.  “We are now completely out of coffee and just about everything else is gone as well.  I know Turtle Crick is a way back down the mountain, but unless you want nothing but water and whatever you two can catch this winter, you need to go.”

Matt sat back and pursed his lips.  “Actually, Kitty, I was thinking the same thing.  I also thought maybe you ought to go with me.”

Kitty looked up in surprise.  “Me?  Do you think it’d be safe?  I mean, last time they didn’t know anything about me yet but by now…”

“Been thinking about that too.”  Matt nodded.  “There’s a trading post that’s closer than the town and even if they had heard of you, they most likely wouldn’t care. They probably get all kinds going through and I doubt they ask too many questions.  Usually safer if they don’t.”

“Have you been there before, Matt?”  Kitty asked.

“Only once.”  Matt answered.  “And I never went in.  I was chasing a bank robber a couple of years ago and he came right through this area.  I chased him close to the trading post but as soon as we reached it, he veered off and took of east.  I never went in but I remember where it was and I remember it being the only place around up here for miles.”

“Then you think it’d be okay if I went with you?”  Kitty asked.

Matt nodded.  “Don’t see why not.  When winter sets in we won’t be going anywhere for a while so we might as well.”

Kitty’s heart raced at the thought of being able to go somewhere.  Despite the sickness she’d been experiencing off and on she would do anything to be able to go somewhere and see something besides the walls of the cabin and the trees surrounding it.  “Do you mean that?”

Matt saw the happy look in her eyes and knew right then and there he’d move heaven and earth to see it more often.  “I do.  It’s too late to start today but I figure we get an early start in the morning; we can get there by nightfall.  We can spend the night there, get our supplies and leave the next morning.  How does that sound to you?”

Kitty’s smile brightened the room more than the light coming in through the window.  “It’s sounds wonderful.”

“Good.”  Matt pushed back from the table. “Then tomorrow morning, we’ll leave.”

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

**The Rescue 14**

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The next morning, the trio rose early and quickly dressed.  While the men went out and readied the horses, Kitty used the very last of their supplies and made them a quick breakfast.  Though she’d woken nauseous once again, she pushed it aside and went about her chores.  If Matt thought her sick, he would refuse to let her go and would send Festus in alone.

As soon as the horses were ready, the men quickly ate while Kitty busied herself in pinning her hair up and disguising herself as best as possible.  With almost no makeup and hair pulled severely back into a bun, she hid as much of her looks as she could.

When the men sat down to eat, Matt questioned why she wasn’t eating.  But she waved him off, saying she’d eaten while he and Festus were outside.  Seemingly mollified, Matt accepted her answer and escorted her outside, when she was ready, and helped her onto her horse.

The travel for most of the day was fairly easy.  Though the temperature was cold and a fairly stiff breeze kept at their backs for a large portion of it, they still made fairly good time.  Late that afternoon, they had reached the hardest part of their journey and according to Matt their last.

“The trail, from here on in, is gonna be a little rough,” he informed his traveling companions. “But once we’re through it, we’ll be almost there.”

Festus sat atop his mule and looked down at the steep trail down the slope of the hill.  Narrow and strewn with jagged rocks, it looked awfully dangerous.  “Matthew, ya reckon we oughta try and walk these here animals down?  That there trail don’t look none too safe a riding.”

Matt sat for several seconds surveying the narrow track down the hill then glancing over at Kitty.  Though she’d made no complaints and had kept her self rigid and upright in the saddle, she didn’t look right to him.  And he was almost positive she hadn’t eaten anything, despite what she’d told him.  Looking back down at the trail and then once again at her, he nodded.  “Yeah, Festus, but only you and me.  Kitty, you stay right where you are and we’ll lead your horse down.”

“Oh, no, Matt.”  Kitty protested.  “It’d be too hard for you to lead my horse and your own.  I can walk just as easy and…”

“No, Kitty.”  Matt stopped her.  “You stay put.  I won’t have any problems leading your horse.”

Kitty wanted to argue, but truth be told, she really didn’t feel well.  The nausea was back.  Sitting back in the saddle, she wearily nodded her head.  “Alright.” She agreed.  “Lead away, Marshal.”

Matt gave her a half grin and took the reins of her horse.  “You just hang tight to that saddle horn and we’ll be there by nightfall.”

Tying his horse in behind Kitty’s, Matt urged her mount forward and they began their trek down the mountainside.

They had made pretty good progress and were getting close to the bottom, when suddenly a shot rang out.  Kitty felt a sharp pain in her right shoulder and she suddenly lost all feeling in her arm.  Looking down, she saw a bright blossom of red appear on her shoulder just before blackness enveloped her completely and she quietly slipped from the right side of the saddle.

Matt, upon hearing the crack of gunfire, immediately ducked, pulled his gun and turned back towards Kitty.  He’d just reached her side when she slid from the saddle and into his arms.

Festus had also drawn his gun and was scanning the area around them for some sign of where the shot had come from.  To their left he saw a figure rise from the surrounding rocks and move further down.  Taking careful aim, he fired but he could tell his bullet fell way short.  “Matthew, we’d bess git off’n this trail.  We’s clean out in the open here.”

Matt, who’d been thinking the same thing, anxiously scanned the surrounding area.  On a plateau just below and to their right was a small copse of evergreens. Looking back down at Kitty, he was reassured by the steady rise and fall of her chest but only slightly.  Matt looked back up at Festus and pointed to the small grove of trees.

Festus nodded.  With gun still raised, he kept low and close to his mule and cautiously inched forward.

Matt, settled Kitty on the ground just long enough to recapture the reins of the horses, then picked her back up, cradling her tightly in his arms as he walked in a crouch beside the horse down to the only sanctuary close enough to reach.  The action was painful on his knees, especially his right one, but he refused to give into it.  He had to get her to safety.

At an agonizingly slow pace, they crept forward towards the trees, trying to keep the horses between them and their assailant who had not taken another shot or made any other attempt on them.  But Matt wasn’t taking any chances.

When they finally reached the shelter of the small copse of trees, Matt gently laid Kitty down and pulled her shirt back enough to examine her wound.  It wasn’t too bad, and if they could get her to the post and help, she stood a good chance. 

“Matthew?”  Festus knelt down beside him afraid to ask.

“It’s not too bad, Festus.” Matt told him.  “But we need to get her to that trading post.”

“They a doctor there, is they?”  Festus wanted to know.

“Doubt that.”  Matt answered.  “But at least she’d be inside out of the cold and maybe there might be someone there that could help.”

Festus nodded as he swiveled his head and scanned the area around them.  “You know these mountains better’n I do.  Ya got ya any idee how we get to that there trading post without getting our selves shot at again.”

Matt shook his head.  “No.  But we’re through the worse of that trail.  The rest is pretty easy and the trails wider from here on out so we can put the horses in pairs and walk in between them.  We’re only about a mile or so from the trading post so it shouldn’t take us too long to get there.”

Festus looked down at Kitty.  “Yer better with a gun.  Ya want I should carry her?”

Matt considered it but shook his head.  “No, Festus.  She’s mine, I’ll carry her.”  Getting to his feet, he gingerly picked her up and held her tightly.  “Let’s go.”

Several yards away, hidden deep in the sheltering rocks, Quaid Hill sat and waited for his quarry to come out of the thick section of trees they’d gone to ground in. 

Hill hadn’t expected to find them, hadn’t even expected that they were anywhere near there when he’d taken his horse and left the post.  He was simply getting away from the post for a while, trying to decide if he should cut his losses and do as Brody suggested or stay there for a while longer.

But then he’d spotted them.  Coming down the trail, bold as brass.  Despite the male clothing she was wearing, Hill recognized the woman and his blood ran cold. Recklessly he had pulled his rifle and fired.  Though he was sure his bullet had found its mark, but he wasn’t sure he’d killed her.  Thinking about it, he hoped he hadn’t.  He wanted to hang that whore.

Half an hour went by before suddenly he saw movement.  His prey was coming out of their hiding spot.  Only they were no longer riding boldly along.  They were smart, using the horses for cover.

Sitting back on his heels, he grinned as he placed his rifle back into his scabbard.  “It’s okay.”  He chuckled.  “I know where you’re going and how to get to you. You’re mine now.” 

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

**The Rescue 15**

**(Author’s note:  The Trading Post described is not wholly a figment of my imagination. _I’m good but not_ _that good_.  I actually did see something like it in an old book on frontier buildings.  I can’t find the book nor remember the name but it is as accurate as I can remember. See below for an idea of how it was laid out.)**

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The journey to the trading post was quicker and easier than Matt expected, which worried him.  Whoever had shot Kitty hadn’t just considered it a job done and quit. They’d most likely want to make sure she was dead, which meant they were still out there.

When they reached the long L-shaped two story log building which housed the trading post and the only hostelry for 150 miles, Festus opened the door as Matt carried Kitty in past the centrally located counter and staircase and laid her down on a table in the far corner of the L which housed the kitchen/dining area.

“Matthew, I’ll go take care of them animals.”  Festus said as he hustled back towards the door.  He was no good at things like this.

Matt didn’t reply as his eyes never left Kitty.  She was beginning to come to and Matt grabbed her hand to reassure her.

“Oh… mmm…” She opened her eyes to see Matt standing next to her.  “Matt?  Wha… what hap… pened?”

“You were hurt, honey.”  He said quietly.  He was aware of several people standing on the opposite side of the long room and he didn’t want to reveal too much. “You’re going to be alright though.  Just relax.”

“Looks like she were shot to me?”  A grizzled old man with all of his hair on his chin said as he walked up to stand beside Matt and stare down at Kitty.  “You do it?”

“NO!”  Matt shot him a glare.  “Don’t know who did or why.  We were on our way here when it happened.”  He turned his attentions back to Kitty. 

Just then another man stepped forward and stared long and hard at Kitty then at Matt.  “I betcha I can tell ya who shot her and why.”

Matt turned back and looked at the small little man with a pair of spectacles perched on the end of his long nose and a dirty apron tied around his protruding midsection.  “Who are you?”

“Names Musgrove.  Buster Musgrove.  I own this place.”  He looked at Kitty again.  “That poster on her, don’t do her justice.”  He remarked.  “Even shot, she’s prettier than that drawing.”

Kitty tightened her grasp of Matt’s hand and a small gasp escaped her lips when she heard what he said.  Matt offered her a reassuring squeeze of the hand and a small smile before releasing her and turning back to Musgrove.  “Mr. Musgrove.  Can we talk over here?”  He grabbed the man’s arm and almost propelled him across the room.  “What poster are you talking about?”

Musgrove shrugged as though his knowledge was common.  “The one that Hill feller and his friends brought in.  Just a minute.”  He stepped away from Matt and went behind his counter, coming back out a minute later with a flyer issued by Judge Henry authorizing anyone who found her, to hang Kitty from the highest tree with the full blessings of the law along with a reward.

Matt’s mouth went dry as he read the words.  He looked up quickly at Musgrove.  “You plan on following this?”  His tone held a clear warning in it.

Musgrove shook his head.  “I ain’t the law in Kansas and this ain’t Kansas.  Besides, I figure that Hill fellow will be coming back afore long.  He’s the one that’s anxious to hang her.  Not me.”

Hill.  Quaid Hill.  Matt now knew who had shot Kitty.  Glancing back at her, he looked across at the other people sitting at a nearby table.  “Who are all these people?”  He asked.

Musgrove didn’t know why, but something about the big man exuded authority and he felt compelled to answer his questions even though he suspected he was as much a fugitive as the woman was.  “The man in the frock coat over there is Percival Akins.  The woman, the boy and girl are his.  They’re on their way to Oregon.  The old miner is Cash Hogle.   There are four others around here somewhere’s but I ain’t got any idea who they are, other’n they come in with that Hill a few weeks back.  Just like that young fellow sitting over there by himself.  Names Seth Brody.  ”

Matt looked over to the small table by the window and saw Seth Brody sitting there, a worried look on his face.  “I know who he is.”  He glanced once at Kitty.  “She’s hurt. Do any of these people know anything about doctoring?”

Musgrove shook his head regretfully.  “Don’t know much about any of em, sides me and Cash, but I doubt it.”  He followed Matt’s gaze and realized how uncomfortable the table, the woman was laying on, must be.  “We can at least make her a little more comfortable.”  He said.  “I got a cot in back that we can place over there by the fire and some corn whiskey that might help take some of the sting out of her.”

Matt gave him a grateful nod.  “I’d appreciate that.”

Musgrove shrugged.  “It ain’t much.  Help me with the cot.”

Matt nodded and followed the man into the back room behind and to the left of the counter.  The cot was small and light and Matt easily lifted it up and carried it into the main room, sitting it beside the fire.  As Musgrove went for blankets, Matt returned to Kitty’s side.  “I’m gonna move you over there by the fire, honey.”  He told her.  “You’ll be a little more comfortable.” 

As he reached for her though, Kitty shook her head.  “I can walk, Matt.  You don’t have to carry me.”

“Who said anything about having to?”  Matt favored her with a lopsided grin before picking her up and swiftly carrying her to the cot.  “Now you rest.” He told her as he laid a blanket over her.  “I’m going to see what I can do about getting you food and something for that shoulder.”

Kitty reached out with her good arm and took his hand, shaking her head.  “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Matt.  But I heard that man.  They know about me, don’t they?”  She looked around at the people who’d gathered on the other side of the room and were now watching her intently.

“Doesn’t matter what they know or don’t know.”  Matt told her.  “I’ll take care of things.  You just rest.”

“Alright,” Kitty said as she laid her head back and closed her eyes.  Although rest was the last thing she wanted, it was for the moment the only thing she could do.  Her shoulder ached unmercifully and her nausea grew worse with each beat of her heart.  If they were to come to hang her right then, she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t welcome it for the relief it would offer.

Matt gently placed a kiss on her forehead, then stood and looked around at the people in the room with him.  He didn’t know what was going to happen but other than Musgrove and Festus, who had just returned, he doubted he’d have much help from any of them. 

“How’s she doin’?”  Festus asked as came up beside Matt.

Matt shrugged.  “She’s resting.  See anything out there?”  He asked, gesturing to the yard beyond the window he was looking out of.”

“They was four fellers out near the barn, but they was dead drunk.  They didn’t even know I was there.  Otherwise I didn’t see not nary a thing.”  Festus answered.  “It’s as quiet as a mouse tiptoeing on cotton.  Kinda makes me nervious.  I doubt that feller what did the shooting has quit though. He’ll be a coming, Matthew.  I betcha a dollar he will.”

Matt nodded.  “Yeah, I know, Festus.  But at least we’re in here and he’s out there.  We stand a better chance than he does as long as we keep him and those four men out there in the cold.”

“Them there men part of this, ya reckon?”  Festus asked.  

Matt nodded.  “Yeah.  The man that owns this place told me Quaid Hill and those men outside in the barn as well as Brody, over there, have been here for several weeks.  And you know what Hill wants.”

Festus nodded sadly.  “Ya, I reckon I do.  Ya want me to throw Brody out there with the rest of them yahoos?”

Matt shook his head.  “No, but keep an eye on him.  Don’t let him near Kitty.”

Musgrove returned just then with a jug of corn and a small glass.  “This ain’t nothing you’ll find at the Long Branch.”  He offered a toothless grin.  “But it’ll take her mind off her shoulder for a while.”

Matt took the old man’s offering and started towards the cot, but stopped when he reached it.  Kitty had already drifted off.  Placing the jug and the glass on the nearby counter, he tugged the blanket up tighter under her chin and settled in to wait and watch.

Early the next morning, after taking a careful look around and assuring himself that the four ruffians of yesterday and Quaid Hill were nowhere around, Festus hustled out to the barn.  

He was concerned for their animals, but Festus’ thoughts were on Miss Kitty.  The brief glimpse he’d had of her wound didn’t look life threatening, however he knew how bad a wound like could turn without a doctor’s care.  And a doctor’s care was one thing they didn’t have.

“Shore wisht ya was here, ol’ Doc.”  He muttered.  “Miss Kitty shore could use ya.”

“She’s gonna need undertaker, is what she’s gonna need.”  Quaid Hill said from behind him as he raised his gun and landed a blow against the back of the hill man’s head.  “I’ll make sure of that.”  He grinned.

TBC

XXXX **DOOR** XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **XXX** XXXX       FP = Fireplace  
X                                                      X       BUSTER”S      X     Bolded X’s are the windows  
X            STOREROOM                               HIDDEN       X  
X                                                      X         ROOM        X        
XXXXXXXX         XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
X                            STAIRS                                             X  
X                                           COUNTER      DINING         **X**  
X                                                                                  **X**  
X  **FP**                                                                            X  
XXXXX **XX** XXXXX **DOOR** XXXXX **XX** XXXXX                     X  
                                                               X                  X  
                                                               X  KITCHEN     X  
                                                               X                  X  
                                                               XXXX **XX** XXXX


	16. Chapter 16

**The Rescue 16**

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Matt stood inside the post, looking out at the barn and the surrounding yard.  It was now full light and the shadows of the night had slipped away from the yard revealing a gray and white landscape.  It had begun to snow.  Fat heavy flakes were coming in waves, batted against the window by the wind, which had picked up. 

Festus had gone out about an hour prior but he hadn’t returned yet and that worried Matt.  He thought about going out and looking for him, but glancing over at the small figure sleeping in the cot by the fire, he knew he couldn’t.  She had to be his first priority.  And as kind as Musgrove was, he wasn’t sure he could trust him with her safety.  He wasn’t sure he could trust anyone currently inside with them.

Looking around at the rugged building they were in, he took in the thick log walls and the shutters beside each window with rifle slits cut into them, for use in case of an attack.  The place would be hard to get into.  But Matt knew no place was impregnable.  The place also had its weaknesses.  A well too far away from the building, a fireplace easily stopped up, an upstairs easily reached and breached through several windows. 

Hill and his men hadn’t made a move all through the night and that worried Matt almost as much.  It meant he’d taken his time to plan his next assault.  And they’d probably gotten rest as well, while Matt and Festus had taken turns sitting up all night, guarding not only against them outside, but all of them inside as well.

 “Mr. Atkins.” Matt heard Musgrove speak to the scowling man.  “Are you sure you want to try and leave now?  It’s awful cold out there and it’s begun to snow.  It ain’t safe to travel now.”

Atkins looked over to where Kitty lay on the cot, before regarding his host.  “Whoever shot her will be coming back for her.  I do not want my family here when they come. We’ll take our chances with the weather, thank you.”

Matt shook his head at the man’s stupidity but kept his mouth shut.  He knew from experience, the man wouldn’t listen to him.  It would take something more than words to convince him of his folly.

“Matt.”

Matt turned his head to see Kitty awake and trying to get up. Swiftly, he abandoned his post by the window and went to her side.  “Hey now, what are you trying to do?  Come on, honey.  You need to lay back down there and rest.”

“Those…” she licked dry lips, “those people are going to get into trouble by leaving.  Tell them they need to stay.  Please, those kids shouldn’t be out in this weather.”

“Don’t worry about them, Kitty.”  Matt whispered.  “They won’t go a mile before they turn around and come back.  Some people just have to learn the hard way.”

Kitty grinned.  “Like me?”

Matt shook his head.  “Like us both, I guess.”  He noticed her color was up but touching a hand to her forehead, he could see so was her temperature.  “How are you feeling?”

“Oh, I’m alright.”  She sighed.  “My shoulder’s not hurting so much anymore and my stomach’s settled down.  How about you?  Have you eaten anything?”

“I’m fine, Kitty.”  He patted the hand that had grasped his arm.  “I don’t want you worrying about anything but yourself right now.”

Kitty looked around the room and saw the strangers at the other end but didn’t see Festus.  “Matt, where’s Festus?  Shouldn’t he be in here?”  Matt dropped his eyes and the gesture frightened her.  “He wasn’t… he’s not hurt, is he?”

“Calm down, Kitty.  No, he wasn’t hurt. He’s okay.  He’s just seeing to a few things, is all.  I don’t want you to worry about him or me or anything else right now, other than getting rest. You are all that is important.”

 “Come along, Maizie!”  Atkins cold voice cut through her thoughts and she observed him pushing the children and woman towards the door.  “We’ll bundle up in the back of the wagon and be just fine.  At least better than here.”  He gave Kitty a look of contempt as he opened the door and took a step forward.

But he hadn’t even cleared the frame when a shot rang out, hitting the door post, just inches from his head.  Atkins, swiftly slammed the door shut and staggered further back into the room.  “What the…?”  He started to ask.

“Dillon!”  A deep angry voice called from somewhere in the yard.  “I know you’re in there, Dillon.  You and the woman.”

Matt jumped up from Kitty’s side and swiftly crossed back to the window, carefully looking outside.  He saw nothing and no one.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Atkins moving near the window on the other side.  “Atkins!”  He snapped.  “Get away from that window.  You want to be shot?” 

As Atkins moved back another shot came through the window he’d just been about to approach, narrowly missing the now quaking man. 

“Musgrove.”  Matt called over his shoulder.  “Get these windows shuttered.  Atkins, get your family in the back away from any of the windows and stay down.”

As both men moved to do as they were told, Cash, the old prospector came up to Matt with his rifle cradled in his arms.  “Ya want I should watch the winder over yonder, young feller?”

Matt gave him a grateful nod.  “I’d appreciate it.” 

Musgrove finished with the other windows and stepped over next to Matt, a box of cartridges in his hand and a rifle.  “Fear you might need that.”  He said.  “See anything out there?”

Matt shook his head.  “No. Not yet.  But he’s not gonna fire off a couple of rounds and then just quit.”

Musgrove nodded.  “Got me an idea, you’re right about that.”

“Matt.” 

Matt looked back over to where Kitty lay.  “Watch for me.” He said to Musgrove as he moved over to the cot.  “Hey, I thought I told you to rest.”

Kitty looked at the man she loved and saw the burdens he was carrying and her heart broke anew at the thought.  To her mind he was paying for a crime he didn’t commit simply because he loved her.  But he also loved the law and taking off that badge to save her had been the biggest sacrifice he had ever made.  She just wished she felt worthy of it.  “I can’t rest, Matt.  That man out there isn’t going to allow that.”

“That man out there has nothing to say about it.”  He pulled the blanket back over her, his hand brushing her face as he did so and he noted the heat coming from her skin. “How about I get you some water?”

Kitty shook her head.  “No.  I don’t want water.  I want you and Festus to be safe.  You’ve protected me all you can, Matt.  Now it’s time to let me go.”

Matt furrowed his brow.  “Let you go?”

“If that I go out there, Hill will leave the rest of you alone.  You and Festus could…”

“We could do nothing besides what we’re already doing.”  Matt stopped her.  “You’re not going out there.”

“But, Matt…”  Kitty started to further protest when another shot rang out. 

“I’m waiting, Dillon.  Send her out here and I’ll let ya go.  I won’t even kill that scruffy friend of yours.  You don’t and he’ll be the first to go.”

Matt saw the alarm in Kitty’s eyes and quickly took her hand.  “Don’t worry.”  He said.  “Festus will be alright.”  Moving back over to the window, he looked out through the slit and his heart stilled.

Quaid Hill was standing in the yard with Festus in front of him, hands tied behind his back and a gun at his head.

TBC


	17. Chapter 17

**The Rescue 17**

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“Matt.”  Kitty cried in alarm.  “Matt, if he has Festus…”

“Kitty, calm down.”  He said sternly.  He hated to use that tone but he needed to get her attention.  He knew what she was going to try and do and he simply wouldn’t let her.  “I can see Festus and he’s fine.  He can take care of himself, so don’t worry.” 

He sounded confident but inside he wasn’t nearly as sure as he sounded.  Festus, though standing, looked unsteady on his feet and his head kept dropping his head as though he was having difficulty in keeping it up.  Abruptly, Festus went limp and dropped to the ground, unmoving. 

Hill, who’d nearly gone down with him, suddenly realized his shield was gone and scrambled backwards to the safety of the barn door. Matt aimed carefully at the retreating figure and fired, only to have a volley of bullets flying back at him and the post from several different directions.

Anxiously Matt looked at Festus lying helplessly on the ground, willing him to move, to give some sign that he was alive.  For several seconds, Festus laid inert on the ground, not a muscle twitched.  Suddenly his eyes opened and Matt could tell he was alert and could see him.  “Cash.”  He called to the old miner at the window.  “Can you get a good shot at that barn door?”

Cash rose on his five foot six frame and looked out of the window at every angle he could find.  “I cain’t hit nothing behind it,” he finally said.  “But I kin sure enough keep em from coming around it.”

Matt nodded.  “Mr. Musgrove?” 

The trading post owner approached with a rifle.  “You’re going out after him, ain’t ya?”

Matt nodded.  “If you and Cash can keep them pinned down, I think I can get him and get back in.  There’s at least one behind that barn door, one over there by the watering trough and two more over there over there in those trees. ”

“No, Matt.”  Kitty said fearfully as she pushed herself up from the cot.  “Please, let me go out there.  He wants me.”

“Kitty, stay there.”  Matt’s voice was even sterner than before and with an added touch of panic. 

Maizie Atkins had never been the strongest of individuals and seldom stood up to her domineering husband of seventeen years.  But she could see that the determined redhead would go with or without the big man’s approval and would most likely get herself killed. 

Without a glance in her disapproving husband’s direction, she swiftly crossed the room and grabbed Kitty gently by the arm, guiding her back onto the cot.  “Now, now.”  She said soothingly.  “Your man knows what he’s doing.  You let him do it.  You’re too badly hurt to do anything.”

Kitty tried to break the woman’s grasp but she was too weak and just the act of rising caused her to head to spin.  Weakly, she gave in and settled back down on the cot.

Matt gave Maize an appreciative nod, Kitty a loving gaze and then glanced back over at Musgrove.  “You ready?”

The old man nodded.  “They won’t poke their heads out while you’re out there.”

Holding his pistol tightly in his hand, Matt rose and crossed to the door, opening it just a crack.  Immediately a shot rang out, hitting the frame next to his head. Instantly, Cash and Musgrove began firing, laying down a withering line of bullets in the directions Matt had pointed out. 

Matt jerked the door all the way open and ran headlong into the yard and over to Festus.  “Can you run?”

“Just git me on my feet.”  He said.  “I kin run.”

Keeping his gun aimed at the barn door, Matt grabbed Festus’ arm and hoisted him to his feet.  “Let’s go.”

Running as fast as they could and praying the two men inside were still aiming at the bad guys and not them, they made it back to the post safely.  Opening the door, Matt shoved Festus in then started in himself.  He almost made it.  Musgrove and Cash, seeing the two men at the door stopped their firing a second too soon.  Hill took a chance; darted out from the door he had been using as sanctuary and fired at the Matt as he was going in.  Matt went down just inside the door, a bullet wound to his leg.

“Matt!” Kitty screamed as she pushed aside Maizie and her dizziness and tried to get to him. 

Despite her frailty, Maizie found it hard to keep a hold of the woman.  Finally, seeing no other option, she took a hold of Kitty’s arm and helped over to the chair Musgrove had pulled Matt into.

Seeing her coming on unsteady feet, Musgrove gripped another chair and sat it down next to Matt just as Maizie brought her close.  “Here, Ma’am.  Sit.”  He said kindly.  “You shouldn’t oughta be up.”

Kitty took the chair but ignored his words as she reached for Matt.  “Matt…”

“Kitty, I told you to stay in that bed.”  Matt grimaced as Cash knelt beside him and cut his pants.  “You have no business being up.”

Kitty ignored him as she watched the grizzled old miner examine his leg.  “Is he going to be alright?”

“Well, I ain’t no doctor.”  Cash shrugged.  “But it don’t appear to be too bad.  Bullet went right through. He ain’t gonna be dancin’ anytime soon, though.”

As Kitty relaxed her death grip on his arm, Matt took her hand.  “Now will you please go back over there and lay down?”  He truly didn’t mean to snap at her, but his concern for her was driving him and he knew no other way to get her to listen to him.  But he when the stricken expression on her face, he instantly regretted his tone.  “I’m sorry, Honey.  I’m just worried about you.”

“Come on, Miss Kitty.”  Festus said as Musgrove released him from the ropes binding his hands and he stepped up beside them.  “Matthew’s right.  Ya gotta lay down.  Matthew’ll be alright.”

Looking at Matt again then up at Festus, Kitty wearily nodded and allowed him and Maizie to help her up and back over to the cot.  In truth, she wasn’t sure she could sit up much longer anyway.  As Maizie smoothed the blanket back over her, she patted Kitty’s hand.  “I’m not a doctor, but I do know a few things.  I’ll clean his leg up and make sure it’s bandaged.”

Kitty gave her a grateful nod.  “Thank you.”

Maizie looked down at her for a moment and hesitated.  “Like I said, I’m not a doctor.  But I’ll see what I can do for you too.  Not sure I can get that bullet out, but I can at least clean up that wound and bandage it proper.”

“Matt first, please?”  Kitty pleaded.  “I’ve gone this long; a little while longer won’t hurt.”

Maizie nodded.  “Just rest.  I’ll be back as soon as he’s tended to.

As she moved away from the cot, however, her husband grabbed her arm, pulling her forcefully to the other side of the room and away from Kitty and Matt.  “What do you think you’re doing?”  He growled into her ear.  “You leave them alone.  That woman is a murderer.  She’s trash and not worth your time or attention. Let her die, if she’s going to.”

If asked about it later, Maizie would never be able to explain it.  But her husband’s words hurt.  Usually he was a kind and decent man, but he had acted anything but that over this.  Jerking her arm free of his grasp, she raised her other simultaneously and slapped him hard across the face.  “No.”  She hissed at him.  “They need help and I’m going to help them.  And you WILL NOT stop me.”

As Maizie marched away from her husband, Seth Brody sat back in his corner, almost completely forgotten by the other people in the room.  He watched the various dramas playing out before him and each one urged him to make a move.  Still he hesitated.  He knew what he should do, he just wasn’t sure he was brave enough to do it.

TBC


	18. Chapter 18

**The Rescue 18**

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Quaid Hill sat inside of the barn, gingerly pulled his coat back and unbuttoned his shirt.  He’d been hit and it looked pretty bad.  It felt pretty bad too.  But it he wasn’t about to let it deter him.  He was there for a purpose and he was going to accomplish what he set out to do, regardless of what it cost him. 

In his forty three years, he’d never wanted anyone as much as he wanted Kitty Russell.  He and his best friend and partner, Vic, had both wanted the woman from the moment they first saw her.  But, unlike Vic, he had grudgingly been willing to leave her alone when she firmly rebuffed him.  Vic had not been so willing.  Vic had wanted her and went after what he wanted, losing his life in the attempt.

“How bad ya hit?”  Tate Ritter called over to him as he took another pot shot at the post.

“Ain’t bad.”  Hill grunted as he took his bandana from his pocket,  folded it and pressed it tightly against his wounded flesh then buttoned his shirt back over it.  Refastening his coat, he sat back for a moment to catch his breath before regaining his feet and stumbling back over to the door. “Did you or the others get either of them two?”

Ritter shrugged.  “Saw that big man stumble as he went in the door but ain’t sure he was hit.  Them fellers inside were keeping our heads down pretty good.”

Hill nodded.  Dillon was good.  He had to give him credit for that.  So far Quaid’s plans to use the hill man as some sort of bargaining chip had failed, thanks to the now former Marshal. But he had other ideas and men to implement them.

If that moron, Brody, hadn’t of turned chicken he could’ve had him too.  But Brody, for some reason, suddenly wanted nothing to do with the task they had ridden hundreds of miles to accomplish.  He actually acted as though what they were doing was wrong.  As though seeing to it that justice was done for Vic and the hanging of his murderer was the crime.  Muddy thinking, Hill judged it to be.  

Still, he wasn’t done yet.  Not as long as he was breathing.  He owed Vic that much.  The two had grown up together, gone to war together and buried their families together after the war.  Two brothers couldn’t have been closer. Of course in the last few months of his life, Vic had taken to hanging around with the likes of Brody.  Just more muddy thinking.

Of course, he knew Vic had a mean side.  A side that the war had brought out and the death of his young wife in childbirth had worsened.  But it changed nothing in Hill’s eyes.  Vic was his friend and now he was dead and the woman responsible was going to pay, even though by the feel of it, it would mean his own life to see to it.

“What ya think we oughta do now?”  Ritter asked as he took another half hearted shot at the post.

Quaid looked thoughtful for a moment.  “Get the others in here.  I got a couple of ideas.”

Inside the trading post, Maizie had recruited her teenage daughter and together they had cleaned and bandaged Matt’s leg.  The old prospector, Cash Hogle, had been right. It had been a flesh wound only and though painful, he’d be fine. 

However, after examining Kitty’s shoulder, Maizie knew she couldn’t say the same for her.  Though initially not life threatening, it was developing an infection and Maizie, whose brother had been a doctor, knew that if that bullet didn’t come out soon, the woman could die.

“Constance, come help me.”  Maizie said as she pulled Kitty’s shirt back and carefully removed the dirty and bloody rags covering the grievously irritated wound.   Placing a hand on Kitty’s forehead she could tell her temperature was up.  “I need some water and a wash basin.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”  Sixteen year old Constance, despite her dumb blond looks, was smart enough to know which one of her parents was in charge.   And though her father stood on the far side of the room with a scowl on his face, forbidding her little brother Freddie to go near the outlaws, as he called them, she knew who currently held the power.  She would do anything her mother directed.

But when she retrieved the water bucket, she saw it was empty.  “There’s not any water, Mama.”  She said.  “I’ll go out and get some from the well.”

Instantly, Festus, Matt and Musgrove intercepted her.  “Not a good idea, little girl.”  Musgrove shook his head.  “That feller out there’d shoot you for fair.”

Matt nodded in agreement.  “He’s right.  I’ll go.”

He held his hand out for the bucket but Festus stepped in front of him and took it from the girl.  “You ain’t goin’ nowhere’s, Matthew.  That there leg’d make sure ya couldn’t run no faster than a crippled chicken.  I’ll go.”

But as he started for the door, Cash intercepted him.  “Them two need you.”  He said in a low voice as he tipped his chin towards Matt and Kitty.  I ain’t got no one needing me and no more gold to go after.  You stay here.”  Without waiting for a protest, Cash grabbed the bucket, swung the door opened and headed out.

Quaid Hill’s dark brown eyes peered around the barn door just in time to see the grizzled old gold miner step out of the door and head towards the well.  Grinning, he raised his rifle and took aim, waiting until the old man had actually gotten the water and was headed back before he fired.

Cash ran faster than he’d ever run before upon hearing the report of gunfire.  The first shot missed him by a mere fraction of an inch.  Swiftly he hustled across the snow packed yard and made it to the door before Hill was able to fire again.  But his luck wouldn’t hold.  He managed to get the door open and the bucket inside but just as his own feet hit the door a bullet struck him.  Falling inside, he was dead before he hit the floor.

“That’s another one for you, Dillon.”  Hill screamed out in frustration, not knowing he’d actually succeeded in killing the old man.  “But I ain’t done yet.  Next one to stick his nose out of there; gets it shot off.”

Matt heard but ignored the man’s yelling.  He had more important things to concern himself with.  Upon seeing Cash fall, Constance screamed and Freddie turned, clinging to his father in fear.  Atkins, who’d never seen anyone hurt before much less die, paled as he pulled his son’s face into him and away from the sight.

“Festus,” Matt called as he limped over to Cash.  “Help me.”

Quickly, Festus crossed the floor and knelt down beside the old miner.  “He’s daid, Matthew.”  Festus said mournfully. 

Matt nodded.  “Let’s get him out of here.”

“There’s a storage room in the back.”  Musgrove said as he sadly looked down at his friend.  “I’ll get blanket and we can wrap him up  and place him back there.  Ain’t no heat back there so it should be okay for a while.”

Matt nodded.  “That’s a good idea, Mr. Musgrove.  Let’s get him up.”

As the men tended to the dead gold miner who’d lost his life for a bucket of water for her, Kitty lay her head back on the cot and closed her eyes.  Though Maizie’s ministrations on her shoulder hurt, Kitty made not a sound.  Her mind was on much more painful matters.  Matters of life or death.

TBC


	19. Chapter 19

**The Rescue 19**

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Festus sat beside the far window and took his turn at guard.  They’d been holed up now for almost a full day while Quaid Hill & his men occasionally took a shot at the post or shouted at them to send Kitty out.  Their pleas, for the most part, were ignored. 

At least by everyone but Percival Atkins.  He had spent most of the day simpering in a corner when he wasn’t berating his wife for helping common criminals or belittling his children for the smallest infraction or demanding that Matt heed Hill’s warnings and send the red head out to him.

Of course, Matt sort of understood.  Atkins was scared.  Earlier, one of Hill’s men had managed to get in through one of the windows on the second floor and creep down the hallway towards the stairs.  It was only Matt’s keen sense of trouble that had saved them.  He sensed something was wrong and silently headed in that direction.  He had no sooner reached the top of the stairs when he saw the gunman and fired, killing him instantly. 

The man now lay next to Cash in the storeroom.  That attempt and an even earlier attempt to cover the chimney of the fireplace, which also met with failure thanks to the slick snow on the roof, were enough to make Atkins extremely vocal about his displeasure in their current situation.

Festus had tolerated a good deal of the man’s mouth before finally, he marched over to him and pulled him close by the lapels of his jacket.  “You either shut yer mouth, or I’ll shut it fer ya.  Ya hear?”

Wisely, Atkins controlled his mouth and his temper and kept quiet for a while, unlike the man outside, who continued to call out to them. 

“DIllon!”  Hill yelled.  “You’d best send her out here.  You’ll all die, you don’t.  Ain’t no whore worth all your lives.”

Matt heard the calls but disregarded them.  What Quaid Hill wanted, he couldn’t give.  Looking around the room, he rested his eyes on her.  Pale and battered, she was still the loveliest woman he’d ever seen.  And unless he figured out what to do, she would also be the deadest. 

“Mr. Dillon?”  Atkins skirted Festus and came up beside him.  “How long do you think we can hold out in here?  We’re low on water again and the firewood is just about gone.  I mean, we men, we can make do I guess, but there is also a woman and two children we have to consider.”

“Two.”  Matt glared at him.

“What?”  Atkins asked with a confused look.

“There are two women here, Mr. Atkins.”  Matt said slowly with angry inflection.  “And I have no intentions of seeing either of them die.”

“She should already be dead and you know it.  From what I understand she was legally tried and sentenced.”  Atkins snarled.  He wanted to say more but the murderous look on Matt’s face stopped him and he turned away.  Talking to Matt Dillon was getting him nowhere.  Quickly, he retreated to the other side of the room with his family and Brody.

Kitty lay on the cot knowing what she had to do.  Time was running out and there was no other option.  She just hoped she’d be able to convince Matt of that.  Taking a deep breath, she painfully pulled herself up into a sitting position.  She needed to look as strong as possible, no matter how she felt. “Matt.”  She called him.  “Can I talk to you?”

Taking another look through the slit in the shuttered window, Matt stepped over to the cot and sat down beside her.  “You should be resting.”  He told her, as he placed a hand on her forehead to check her temperature.  It was still high, but thankfully it hadn’t gone any higher.

Kitty shook her head.  “I should be going out there.  He’s not going to quit, Matt, until he has me.  It’s time you admit that and let me go to him.  He’ll leave you all alone if you do.”

“No!” He said sternly.  “I am not going to let him have you, Kitty.  You didn’t kill Vic Treager and I’m not going to let you die for it.”

Kitty gave him a half smile.  “I don’t get this bullet out of me and I’m gonna die anyway.”  She told him.  “At least me going out there will get it over with and it’ll save these people’s lives.  You have a responsibility to them too, Matt, and you know it.  Your badge requires you to let Quaid have me and keep these people safe.”

The strain was beginning to show on her face and it pained Matt, almost as much as the truth of her words.  For just a traitorous second, he actually thought of his badge but he angrily pushed that thought away.  His badge had gotten them into this spot to begin with.

 “I don’t wear a badge any longer, Kitty.  These people mean nothing to me.  But you do.  I’m not letting you go.”  His voice was reflecting his fear and panic but he couldn’t seem to help it.

 “You don’t mean that, Matt.”  Kitty said seriously.  “I mean about these people.  You’re still a lawman, badge or not.  And you have to let me go.”

“No, Kitty.” He said adamantly.  “I don’t.  I… I can’t.  I…  I’ll figure something out, but I can’t let you go out there.”

His voice was ragged and weaker than she had ever heard it.  Matt loved her.  If she knew anything, she knew that.  And she knew what she was asking him to do was harder than anything he’d ever had to do before, but there was nothing else they could do.  They had run out of time and both she and Matt knew it. 

Taking another deep breath, she took his hand and held it tightly as she swung her legs off of the cot and to the floor.  Despite the other people in the room, she reached over and placed a soft kiss on his lips.  “I love you.”  She whispered.  “But you have no say in this.” 

Grasping her shoulder tightly, she placed a hand on his arm and pushed herself to her feet.   She was weak and in a lot of pain, but she knew it wouldn’t matter for long.  She only had to make it out the door.  Giving Matt one last loving glance, she nodded and started for the door.  “Its okay, Matt.  Just remember, I love you.”

But Matt, grabbed her hand and held it.  “NO!”  He said again.  This time his voice was stronger but no less ragged.  “I’ll go myself first.”

Kitty shook her head.  “Wouldn’t work, and you know it.  Now, please.  Let me go.”  Pulling her hand from his, Kitty took a step towards the door but her path was suddenly blocked.

“No, Ma’am.”  Seth Brody told her.  “I’ve sunk low in these last years and I done some things I’m not proud of, including letting you get sentenced to hang.  But I cain’t do it no more.  I cain’t let you die for something you didn’t do.”

Matt stood and gently grasped Kitty by the waist, pulling her to him.  “What are you talking about?”  He demanded.  “You know who did kill Treager?”

Brody dropped his eyes and then his head as he nodded.  “Yes, sir.”  He said softly.  “I did.”

TBC


	20. Chapter 20

**The Rescue 20**

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Those his voice was soft, his words carried throughout the room and every head swiveled in his direction.

“You what?”  Matt’s voice was cold, hard and angry.  Clenching and unclenching his fist, he started towards the smaller, man.  “You killed Treager?” 

Brody dropped hazel eyes to the floor, unable to look Matt or Kitty in the eye, especially Kitty.  “I didn’t mean to.  It… it was sort of an accident.”

Matt brought his fist up and started advancing on the man, the pain in his limb temporarily forgotten.  “It was an accident that you framed her for murder?  It was accident?”  His voice rose precipitously.

Festus understood Matt’s anger, even shared in it.  But he knew if Matt killed Brody, any hope of saving Miss Kitty would be permanently lost.  Quickly, he intercepted him, placing a hand on his chest.  “Now, Matthew.  Ya cain’t kill him.  If’n he killed that Treager feller then the law needs to handle him.  Sides, he kin tell all them folks that Miss Kitty ain’t did nothing.  Don’t ya see?”

Matt stood perfectly still, trying desperately to rein in his anger.  The only sound was the occasional shot from one of the bandits outside, Hill’s calls and Matt’s ragged breathing.  What Festus had said was true.  Brody could clear Kitty’s name.  She could be free.  Finally, he stood a step back and sat down heavily on the cot, his injured leg and injured soul could no longer hold him up.

Kitty, who’d stood for a second in shock, collapsed beside him, too sick and too stunned to do much else.  Looking back up at Brody, only one question came to mind.  “Why?”

Brody continued to study the floor as his mind went back nearly three months to the night he’d soon forget.  “We weren’t gonna hurt ya, Ma’am.”  He started his tale. “Least ways, it wasn’t the plan.  Vic said he knew how to get in the back and into your office and when that bartender come in with the money from the night, we were just gonna slug him and take it.  Nothing more.”

Matt reached over and urged Kitty to lay back down, smoothing the blanket back over her before looking back at the small brown haired man before him.  “Obviously it turned into something more.  Why’d you want to rob her in the first place?  Treager had a successful business.”

Brody shook his head.   “The business was, but he wasn’t.  He lost a lot of money gambling and didn’t want to tell Hill about it.  He said we’d take the money from the Long Branch and split it.  He’d have enough to pay back money he took from his business and I’d have enough to leave Dodge permanent.  Robbing the place was all we was gonna do.  I swear.   When the door opened, Vic was hiding behind it and hit the one that came through the door.  We didn’t even know it was her until she fell on the floor.”

As he spoke the others turned towards them and slowly began to gather around to hear the story.  Maizie went over to Kitty and knelt down beside her.  “Let me check that shoulder.”

But Kitty shook her head.  “Not now.”  She looked back up at Brody.  “Go on.”

Maizie nodded and sat back on her heels waiting for Brody to finish his story.  

Brody, realizing all eyes were on him, became nervous.  Licking his dry lips, he took a deep breath and continued.  “When Vic realized it was Miss Russell who’d come in and not the barkeep, he got a strange look in his eyes.  He… he said he was gonna take her.  She…” he licked his lips again.  “She wouldn’t let him near her otherwise and he knew you’d...” he briefly looked up at Matt.    “He knew you’d kill him if tried anything on her and you found out.  He figured he could take her and nobody’d be the wiser.”

Matt remembered Doc saying there’d been no evidence of that kind of thing happening to her while she was out but still… “He didn’t touch her did he?”

Kitty’s heart stilled as she listened.  Could it be that Vic had…?  “Oh, God.”  She prayed silently.  “Oh, please no.”

But to her relief, as well as Matt’s, Brody shook his head.  “No, I… I stopped him.  I told him to leave her be but he wouldn’t listen.  He got down on the floor beside her and… and…”  He stopped, his face flushed, as he remembered Treager’s hands pulling up her skirt and his lips on her unconscious form as he unbuttoned his pants and...  “I pulled him off of her and tried to get him to come with me but he refused.  Just kept saying he was gonna take her.”

Finally, guilty hazel eyes raised and looked at the pale features of the woman in the cot.  “I truly didn’t want nothing to happen to you.  You gotta believe that.”

Kitty said nothing in reply but did acknowledge his words with a slight nod.  The other people in the room moved closer wanting to hear what else Brody had to say, including Percival Atkins who was now realizing just how very wrong he had been and feeling pretty guilty about it.

Brody dropped his eyes to the floor again and sighed.  “Any ways, when Vic wouldn’t listen to me, I… I pulled my gun and pointed it at him.  Told him to leave you alone.  I told him we’d just take the money like we planned and nobody’d be the wiser.  When he got up, I thought he was gonna do as I said but instead he went for my gun.  We struggled and the gun went off.  Treager was dead.  I… I didn’t know what to do at first.  Then I thought that… well, everybody’d think it was just a robbery gone wrong.  That you came in found him going through your office and you fought and he got killed.”

“Why’d you go to such lengths to make it look like she murdered Treager then?”  Matt wanted to know.  “Why put a gun in her hand and spill whiskey on her?”

Brody raised a shaky hand and ran it through his hair, a slight sob escaping his throat.  “I didn’t mean for it to look that way.  The whiskey was Vic’s.  He had it sitting on her desk and when me and him fought, we knocked it over and it spilled on the floor. I didn’t know till the trial that it got on her clothes.  And the gun… Well, Vic had gone through her desk before she came in and found it there.  It’s what he slugged her with.  When I knew Vic was dead, I panicked.  I put the gun in her hand but honestly, I just thought they’d think it was self-defense.  I didn’t think they’d call it murder.”

Matt dropped his head, guilt in his own part of her murder charges flooding over him.  “I should’ve…”

But Kitty reached out and grasped his arm.  “No, Matt.”  She shook her head.  “You did what you had to do.  You followed the law.”

“The law?”  His voice rose in disgust.  “The law is the reason you were sentenced to hang for something you didn’t do.  The law is the reason you were shot.  The law is…”

“The law is the law.”  Kitty said reasonably.  “Sometimes it’s wrong but that’s just the way it is.”

“The law can fix this though, can’t it?”  Brody asked raising hopeful eyes to Matt.  “I mean, if I confess and swear she’s innocent, they’ll let her go?”

Matt raised his hand and rubbed the back of his neck while he considered the question.  “I don’t know.” He said at length.  “The law hasn’t exactly been on our side lately.  But maybe.  We need to try, anyway.”

Just another shot rang out, this one luckier than the others as it found its way past one of the window shutters and imbedded itself in the wall near them.  Swiftly, Matt grabbed Brody and shoved him to the ground.  “Stay down.”  He ordered.

As everyone else in the room ducked, Festus and Musgrove made their way over to the window and hazarded a glance outside.  As before they saw nothing, but a couple more shots coming from the direction of the barn reaffirmed that their tormentors were still there.

“Peers like we maybe oughta stop them there yahoos outside there first, Matthew.”  Festus turned back to Matt.

Matt nodded.  “Yes, we do.  And we can’t do it from in here.”

Musgrove looked up and over to the tall man he had come to really respect.  “Got any ideas?”

Matt nodded. “A couple.  But I’m going to need help.”

Percival Atkins stepped forward.  “Count me in, Mr. Dillon.”

Matt looked at him appraisingly.  “It’s risky.” He warned.  “And you have a family.”

Maizie spoke up before her husband could.  “His family understands and wants to help as well.  Tell us what to do.”

Matt gave her a grateful smile before looking around at everyone there.  “Okay,” he said.  “This is what we can do.”

TBC


	21. Chapter 21

**The Rescue 21**

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Matt’s plan, though simple, was never the less dangerous.  But if it worked, as he thought it would, they would soon be clear of Quaid Hill and his men and maybe able to get Kitty’s name cleared.  If she lived that long.  And looking back over at her, he was beginning to seriously worry about that.  She was putting on a brave face but she was ashen faced and he could read her well enough to know how much pain she was in.

After dispatching the men to the various things he needed them to do, Matt turned back to gaze out the window.  He had to get Quaid Hill to either listen or Matt would kill him.  And right then he didn’t care much which it was.

“Mr. Dillon.”  Maizie left Kitty’s side and stepped up next to him.  “I’m seriously worried about Kitty.”  She whispered.  “Her temperature is rising and that shoulder is getting worse.”

Matt nodded.  “Yes, Ma’am.”  He said.  “I know, but right now, I don’t know what to do for her.  She needs a doctor, which we don’t have.”

Maizie worried her lower lip for a second before finally taking a deep breath.  “I am not a doctor.”  She said finally.  “But my brother is.  Before marrying Percival, I worked with my brother.  I believe I can get that bullet out but I’m not going to lie to you, it could be risky for her.  I obviously don’t have surgeon’s tools here or any sort of anesthetic...”

“I do.”  Musgrove said behind them. 

Matt and Maizie turned and gave the trading post owner a speculative look.  “You do?”  Maizie asked.

“Well, maybe.” Musgrove amended.  “They was a doctor come through here a year or so back, hunting gold.  He needed supplies but didn’t have nothing but his medical bag.  I tried to get him to change his mind but he wouldn’t listen to me.  I got it back there behind the counter.  Ain’t sure what all’s in it though.”

Maizie turned hopeful eyes towards Matt’s direction.  “If what I need is in there…”

“I’d appreciate anything you could do for her, Ma’am.”  Matt nodded.

As Maizie followed Musgrove over to his counter, Matt hobbled back over to the cot.  “How you feeling?”  He asked Kitty as he gingerly sat down beside her for a moment.

“You’ve got to stop worrying about me, Cowboy.”  She tried to smile, but the pain was making it hard.  “I’m just afraid of what will happen if your plan fails.  I don’t want you or Festus or any of these people hurt.”

Matt bent over and gave her a gentle kiss.  “Nothing is going to happen to any of us.  We’re going to get those men out there to stop and we’re going to get your name cleared.  But first, we’re gonna get your shoulder taken care of.  Mrs. Atkins’ brother is a doctor, she told me.  She says she used to help him and she thinks she can help you.  That is, if you’ll let her.”  He studied her face for signs of distrust.  He’d never let anyone touch her that she didn’t trust.

Kitty looked cautiously hopeful.  “Really?”

“Yeah,” Matt nodded.  “But only if you trust her to do it.  I… uh… I’m not sure what else we can do, if you don’t but we’ll try to get you back to Turtle Crick or something if you’re not comfortable with her.”

“She’s a good person.”  Kitty reassured him with only a second’s thought.  “I trust her.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”  Maizie said as she stepped up beside them.  “Kitty, I’m going to do the absolute best that I know how for you, but I’m not going to lie.  This won’t be easy.  I don’t know how deep that bullet is or what it’s damaged and I don’t have anything but Mr. Musgrove’s corn whiskey for a pain killer.  I do have a little ether to knock you out before I start, but maybe not enough to keep you out the whole time.”

Kitty took a deep breath and considered her words for a second before looking back up at Maizie.  “It’s alright.  You do what you can.”

Maizie nodded then turned towards Matt.  “Mr. Dillon, my daughter is going to assist me, but if you want to stay here…”

“NO.”  Kitty spoke up before he could reply.  “Take care of those men outside, Matt.  It’ll be best.  Please?”  She knew how he was and she didn’t want him there beside her in case Maizie’s efforts were in vain and she didn’t make it.

Matt bent over her and kissed her one more time.  “I’ll take care of them.  But I’ll be close.”  Reluctantly he rose to his feet and turned back to the others.  “Let’s get this thing going.”

“Remember, Kitty.”  Maizie said as she prepared what few instruments were in the well-worn black leather doctor’s bag.  “I’m going to be as fast and as easy on you as I can be.  But I’m not a doctor.  I wouldn’t dream of doing this at all if…”

“It’s alright.”  Kitty reassured her.  “I understand.  Besides, there’s not much other choice is there?”

Maizie shook her head sadly.  “No.” 

Just then Constance came up with a kettle of hot water, followed by her little brother carrying a wash basin.  “Where do you want this, Mama?”

Constance patted the top of a small table Musgrove had brought over to her.   “Sit the basin right there and pour the water into it.” When the girl completed her task, Maizie carefully dropped the bullet probe and the small forceps into it.  Then using the larger forceps, she moved the instruments around in the boiling hot water before pulling them out and laying them on a clean towel to dry and cool off.

Lying beside her, Kitty watched while she worked, remembering the many times she’d seen Doc do the same things and the many times she’d helped him.  If this didn’t work, or if Matt’s plan failed, she knew she’d never see it again, or Doc either for that matter.

Maizie grabbed some cotton and the almost empty bottle of ether, she’d found in the medical bag, and turned back to Kitty.  “You ready?”

Kitty nodded and laid still as the cotton was placed on her face and Maizie tilted the bottle over it.

On the other side of the room, Matt and Festus stood and watched, both praying for Kitty to make it through this.

“”Matthew, ya sure ya want to do this your ownself?”  Festus asked.  “With that leg and all…”

“My leg will be fine, Festus.”  Matt almost snapped at him.  “This is mine to do.” He said in a little softer tone of voice.

Festus nodded.  “I reckon so.”  He looked back over towards the corner where Maizie was putting some cotton on Kitty’s mouth and nose and pouring something onto the cotton.  “But if’n ya don’t make it…”

Matt turned his head and looked over to where his heart rested.  “Then kill Quaid Hill and get her out of here.”  He said seriously.  “Now come on.  Let’s go.”

As Matt went to the front door, Festus crept over to the window and took his place.  Looking over to the other window, he gave a curt nod to Brody, who was already in his seat, writing on a piece of paper and patiently waiting.  

Upstairs, Percival Atkins was poised just out of sight at an upstairs window with a view of the barn.  Musgrove, also upstairs, was in another room, with a view of the back of the house.  

Taking a deep breath, Matt squared his shoulders, opened the door and walked out.

“HILL!” He called as he walked out into the open, hands raised.  “I want to talk to you.”

TBC


	22. Chapter 22

**The Rescue 22**

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 “HILL!” Matt called as he walked out into the open, hands raised.  “I want to talk to you.”  Though Matt would’ve walked out there alone regardless, he knew that the men inside the trading post had there guns trained on the barn and every place around the building that could possible hide one of Hill’s men.  If they made a move, it’d be their last one.

Hill peered cautiously around the barn door at Matt as he walked out into the open, his large frame outlined starkly in the heavy snowfall.  “Unless that woman’s with you, we ain’t got nothing to talk about, Dillon.”  Hill called back.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ritter raise his rifle and aim it at Matt.  “Don’t you fire till I tell ya to.”  He growled at him before turning his attention back to the tall man in the yard.

“Hill,” Matt called again.  “I have proof that Kitty didn’t kill Vic Treager.  She had nothing to do with it.  I have the man that did though and I promise you, if you’ll quit this, he’ll stand trial for his part in Vic’s death.”

“You can’t promise nothing like that, Dillon.”  Hill called back.  “You’re as much an outlaw as that redhead is.  When I saw that scruffy friend of yours I knew it was you that stole her from that stage so she wouldn’t have to pay for her crime.  She’s the one that did it and you know it.”  The effort to call out as he was, was costing Hill, but he didn’t care.  He was not going to cave until Kitty Russell was hung like she should’ve been three months prior.

Matt didn’t back down though.  He stood on his painful leg in the cold and snow, willing to stay there as long as it took to get this thing solved, hopefully without anymore blood shed.  “I have Seth Brody inside there, Hill.”  Matt called out again.  “He swears he’s the one that killed Vic.  Claims it was an accident.  He’s willing to tell you himself, if you’ll put down your gun and come inside and listen.”

Hill swallowed hard.  He knew Brody had been acting strange, almost as though he was guilty of something.  Still… He shook his head, to clear it.  No.  Kitty Russell was found with a gun in her hand lying next to Vic.  Kitty Russell was tried and convicted of his murder.  Kitty Russell was going to pay.  “I ain’t buying it, Dillon.”  He called back. “You’d do anything, including forcing Brody to lie, to keep that woman from hanging.  But it won’t work.  Now you either get her out here or I shoot you where you stand.”

“No, you won’t.”  Matt called back.  “I’m not wearing a gun, and you know I don’t lie.  She’s innocent, Hill.  She didn’t kill Vic.”

Hill considered his words for a moment but angrily put them down.  “No! Dammit!”  Forgetting everything for a moment, including the wound in his side, he marched out of the barn, gun raised and aimed straight at Matt’s head.  “She killed Vic!”  He screamed.  “She did it!  And I’m gonna hang her.   _I_ AM!”

As he advanced on Matt, his finger found the trigger of his gun and he steadied his hand in order to fire.  But before he could pull the trigger, Seth Brody came barreling out of the post, hands in the air, screaming at Hill to listen to him.  Festus had called after him, telling him to stay inside, but Brody paid him no heed.  He had to stop this.

“Quaid, stop!” He yelled as he ran out towards him his gun still his hand, forgotten as he rushed out. “Stop!  Please!”

But Quaid Hill was beyond stopping.  The anger in his soul and the pain in his side worked together to cloud any logical thoughts he may have had.  When he saw Brody running towards them, he didn’t think as he shifted his focus from Matt to Brody and fired.

Seeing what was about to happen, Matt ducked and turned towards Brody.  “No!” He yelled.  “Go back!”

But it was too late.  Hill fired and Brody fell just as another shot was fired, this one from the house.  Festus, upon seeing Brody fall, trained his eye on Hill and fired at the man as he turned and aimed once again at Matt. 

Soon another shot was heard and yet another as Hill’s three remaining men all brought their guns up and began firing at not only the trading post but also at Matt, who’d fallen to the ground, when he turned too sharply and twisted his injured leg.  The weakened limb wouldn’t hold him and he fell, just as a bullet came whizzing past his head.

“Matthew!”  Festus called as he turned and headed out the door.

In the corner of the room, near the fireplace, Maizie did her best to ignore the gunfire and screams going on around her as she diligently worked to remove the bullet from Kitty’s shoulder.  

Her small sandy haired son was sitting in a corner, having been forbidden by his parents to move.  But Maizie, could see the fear in his eyes as he watched the bearded man run out of the door and listened to the sounds of shooting.  “Freddie.”  She spoke as calmly as she could.  “Every thing is alright, son.  Don’t worry about a thing.  Do you hear me?”

Freddie shifted his focus to his mother and seeing her calm and composed he relaxed and nodded.  “Yes, Mama.”

“Good.” She said as she turned attention to her daughter.  Blond, blued eyed and terrified, Constance stood beside her, holding tightly to a chair and staring wide eyed as she watched Mr. Hagen run out of the building behind the other two. 

“Constance.”  Maizie said with the same calm voice she’d used on her son.  “I need you to focus.  Constance!”

Upon hearing the sharp tone of her mother’s voice, Constance shifted her attention back to her and the woman lying in the bed who was now beginning to lightly moan. 

“She’s coming to,”  Maizie told her daughter, “and I’m not yet done.  I have the bullet out but I still have to sew this up.  I need you to come over here and hold her down, Constance.”  When her daughter didn’t immediately move, she sharpened her tone even more.  “NOW, Constance.  Help me.”

“Ye… yes, Ma’am.”  Constance snapped out of her fear long enough to let go of the chair, step up on the other side of the cot and gently place her hands on the red headed woman’s arms to hold her in place as her mother swiftly threaded a needle and began to sew the torn flesh of her shoulder.

Outside, things had taken a turn for the worse.  As Festus ran across the yard, gun raised and firing, Ritter stepped just slightly outside of the barn door’s protection and aimed at the running man.  Upstairs, Percival Atkins, saw the movement and took careful aim, firing the second he had a clear shot, hitting Ritter’s chest dead center. 

Festus took no thought to his own safety as he ran towards his friend and as a result nearly became the recipient of another of Quaid Hill’s bullets as the man brought his gun up to bear on the figure rushing towards him.  But Matt, who’d fallen close to Brody’s now dead body, had managed to get close enough to grab the gun from his dead hand, turn and fire just as Quaid squeezed out a shot in Festus’ direction.

Of Hill’s two remaining men, the one nearest the house saw Percival in the upstairs window and rose from cover to take a shot at him, but Buster Musgrove saw him first and shot before the man could even move his finger to the trigger. 

He fell dead as the last of Hill’s hired guns ran from cover on the far side of the post and towards the horses in the corral.  He’d had enough and was all for quitting.  But luck was no more with him, than it was with his ill-fated boss and companions.  Just as he jumped on the back of the nearest horse, the startled animal reared on his hind legs and threw the man off his back.  He landed with a sickening crunch on his head, breaking his neck instantly.

When the firing ended, six men lay dead on the grounds of the trading post.  Matt and Festus had escaped relatively unscathed as had the people inside the trading post and all hope of ever clearing Kitty’s name was gone.

TBC


	23. Chapter 23

**The Rescue 23**

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Kitty awoke to a searing pain in her right shoulder and firm hands handing her down to the bed.  “No,” she cried weakly.  “Ma… Matt.”

“Kitty.”  Matt said as he made his way to her side and replaced Constance beside her.  He and Festus had just walked in the door when he heard her calling for him.  “Ssshhh, its okay, Kitty.  I’m here.  It’s okay.  Just lie still for a minute. Okay?  Just lie still.”

Kitty opened her eyes to see Matt perched on the cot on one side and Maizie on the other, gently placing a thick cloth on her shoulder and wrapping another around to hold it.  “Matt.” She gasped at the pain as Maizie moved her shoulder to get the bandage onto it.  “Wha…?”

Matt bent over her and gave her a soft kiss, not willing to tell her everything right then.  “It’s all over, Kitty.”  He settled for some of the truth.  “Now you just lie there and rest.  I’ll tell you everything later on, but right now all you need to know is that it’s going to be okay.”

“Are you… okay?”  She asked.  “Fes… tus…?”

“I’m right, chere, Miss Kitty.”  Festus said from behind him.  “Don’t you fret none.”

“We’re fine, honey.”  Matt added as she closed her eyes again, unable to keep them open.  “It’s all going to be just fine.  You just rest.”

Unable to do much else, Kitty gave him a slight nod as she closed her eyes and let the darkness reclaim her. 

Matt looked questioningly over at Maizie who gave him an encouraging smile.  “The bullet wasn’t that deep and didn’t do too much damage.  I got it out and got most of the infection cleaned out.  I’ll still have to watch her for a few days but I think she’ll be okay.  How about you?  How’s that leg?”

“It’s alright.”  Matt shrugged it off.  “It doesn’t matter as long as she’s alright.”

Maizie glanced at her patient then back over at Matt.  “They’re dead, aren’t they?”

Matt nodded unhappily.  “I didn’t want that.  I wanted Brody alive to clear her name and Quaid Hill to understand what happened.  But Hill wasn’t willing to listen.  He killed Brody when he came running out.  Even when he was dying, he was still willing to kill someone else to prove that he was right in his hatred of a woman who never did him any harm.”

Maizie shook her head at the senselessness of it all.  “I guess there are some people who are so sure of their own convictions that nothing, not even the truth, will convince them otherwise.”

“Yeah,” Matt agreed.

“What happens now?”  Maizie asked suddenly realizing the consequences of Brody’s death.  “I mean with Mr. Brody dead there’s no one to tell what really happened. How are you going to clear her name?”

“That’ll be up to us.”  Percival stated as he walked up.  “I don’t know how much weight our word will have, Mr. Dillon, but I and, I am sure Maizie, will be quite willing to testify under oath to what Mr. Brody told us.”

“Me too.”  Musgrove said as he too stepped up beside them.  “We’ll all tell the truth of it.”

Matt smiled at both of the men before returning his gaze to Kitty but he shook his head.  “Not sure that will do much good.”  He gently brushed a stray lock of titan hair from her sleeping face.  “You weren’t there when Treager died and there’s no way, other than Brody’s words, to prove what really did happen.”

“Well… we can try, can’t we?”  Maizie asked.  “I mean, until this all happened, we didn’t know you two so the court would surely realize we’re not just lying to try and help our friends.”

Matt shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I’m not sure I’m willing to take that chance.  Not now.  Not after everything that’s already happened to her.”

“Well,” Musgrove said with hand to the hair on his chin.  “Ain’t no use worrying about it right now.  It’s started snowing again and it’s a coming down even harder than it was earlier.  We’re gonna be snowed in here for a while at least.”

Matt looked out the window and saw the dead men still lying there, being rapidly covered by a blanket of white.  Reluctantly, he released Kitty’s hand and stood. “Need to get those men out there buried while I still can.”

Percival, however, laid a hand on Matt’s shoulder and shook his head.  “You stay here with her.” He tipped his head towards Kitty.  “She needs you more than those dead men do.  We’ll take care of them.”

“Best take care of Cash and that other’n in the storeroom too while we’re at it.”  Buster added.

With Percival’s nodded agreement, both men grabbed their coats and headed out the door.  Festus stood for a second longer, looking down at Kitty. “Don’t matter none, whether the law believes us or not, Matthew.”  He said.  “Miss Kitty’s gonna be free.”

Matt nodded as he watched Kitty sleep.  “Yes she is.”  He agreed.  “No matter what.”

Silently, Festus turned donned his hat and followed the other two men from the building.  He understood the grief Matt was bearing right then and also understood there was nothing he could do to help. 

Even if the law believed the witnesses to Brody’s admission of guilt, there was still a charge of escape over all three of their heads.  Miss Kitty wouldn’t hang but she might face jail time for that, as would he and Matthew.  Festus, of course, wasn’t too concerned for his own well-being as he’d spent a considerable amount of his life just two steps away from a jail cell as it was.  But he knew that if Matthew had to spend any time behind bars, it would kill him, or at least kill his spirit and that of Miss Kitty as well.

The brief glimmer of hope that they’d be free to go their way without looking over their shoulders, given to them by Brody, was now lost by his death.  But as he walked out into the yard and began to help Atkins and Musgrove move the dead men, he vowed that no matter what, neither of them would ever go to jail.

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Sounds and smells woke her and she opened her eyes to see Matt in a hard backed chair by her side, his head on his chest, fast asleep.  Looking around, she saw people across the room at a table, eating and talking quietly.  For several minutes she laid very still not wishing to disturb her current state of pain free existence or the sight of Matt beside her, safe and unhurt. 

But all too soon, her bladder screamed to be relieved and she squirmed disrupting her comfortable position.  “Ow.” She said softly, as the throbbing in her shoulder began in earnest.

Instantly Matt was awake and leaning towards her.  “Kitty, you okay?”

Kitty nodded.  “I… I’m okay, Matt.  I just… I…” For the first time in a long time, she was actually embarrassed to tell him what the problem was.

“Mr. Dillon,” Maizie said as she approached the cot.  “You need to eat or your supper will get cold.  I’m gonna help Kitty and then I’ll see to it that she eats.  Okay?”

Kitty flashed her a grateful smile.  “Thank you.” She whispered. 

“Well, I can help her.”  Matt protested.

“Please, Matt.”  Kitty shook her head.  “Go eat.”

Understanding suddenly, Matt rose with a slight blush, kissed her softly on the lips and went over to the table across the room. 

“You think you can stand?”  Maizie asked.

Kitty hesitated only for a moment before nodding.  “With help.” She answered.

Carefully, Maizie helped her to sit up and then guided her to her feet. The going was slow and twice, Maizie thought she might fall, but together they made it to the other room.

“Matthew, ya get ya some sleep, did ya?”  Festus asked as he took another biscuit from the large basket in the center of the table.

Matt shrugged with a slight grin as his eyes traveled back across the room to the closed door that Maizie and Kitty had gone behind.  “Yeah, I did.” He said, taking a chair and pulling the bowl of potatoes in front of him.  “Didn’t mean to, but I guess I was a little more tired than I realized.”

Festus nodded.  “We’ve been here pert near two whole days and you ain’t slept.  It’s about time ya got some rest.  You blame sure can use it.”

Matt shrugged.  “Well, Festus, I had other things a little more important than that to worry about.”

Percival Atkins and Buster Musgrove exchanged glances just then and Percival looked back over at Matt.  “Mr. Dillon…” He began, but Matt stopped him.

“Mr. Atkins, I think by now, we should be on a first name basis.  My name is Matt.”

Atkins smiled and nodded.  “Matt,” he amended.  “Buster, Festus and I were talking while we were outside attending to...”  He stopped and looked at his wide eyed son and his daughter.  “Children, if you are finished with your supper, than you need to leave the table and perhaps see if there is something you can do to be useful around here.”

“Yes, Papa.”  They both muttered as they rose and left the table.

Atkins waited until they were out of ear shot to continue.  “Buster and I are going to testify to what we heard Mr. Brody say and we’ll both swear in court to it if needed, but we do not believe it a good idea for you three to be found unless there’s some sort of guarantee of your freedom from this thing.”

Matt looked at him curiously then over to a nodding Buster Musgrove and finally to the grin on Festus’ face.  “Mr…”

“Percival.”  Atkins interrupted quickly.  “My first name is Percival.  And I will accept no argument, Matt.  I…” he looked down at the table for a moment, embarrassed, as he thought his initial reactions the tall man and his woman.  “I was a jackass when you all came here and I acted abominably because I did not know the truth and wasn’t willing to listen to it.”

Matt said nothing but silently agreed with the man.   He had acted a fool but he’d now more than made up for it. 

 “Percival,” he sighed.  “Do you realize what getting involved in this could bring down on you?  If you step forward in our behalf, you’ll have every bounty hunter in the country at your door wanting to know where we’re at.  And those people don’t often take ‘I don’t know’ for an answer.”

Percival nodded.  “I do understand, Matt.  But I have to try anyway.”

“Yep, that’s right.” Buster agreed.  “I don’t think I could live with myself, if I didn’t try.  Sides, if this works, they’ll cancel any bounty they put on you all and ain’t none of us will have to worry about it no how.”

“But if it doesn’t…”

“Then it don’t.”  Buster brushed off the thought.  “Don’t matter none right now, no how.  The way it’s snowing out there we don’t have to worry about nobody coming after you for a while.”

Matt looked at him a little suspiciously.  “You telling me, you get no one here during the winter?”

Musgrove shook his head.  “I get trappers and such and an injun ever so often.  But nobody’d that be looking for you all.  The way I figure it, we’re all safe right here till well after Christmas.”

“Christmas?”  Maizie questioned as she led a very weak Kitty Russell back into the room and over to the cot. 

“Un, huh.”  Buster nodded.  “Tain’t too far off.”

Matt got up from his chair and hurried over to help Kitty but what Buster said struck him as he settled her onto the cot.  “Are you sure?”  He asked.

“Sure as I can be.”  Buster said.  “I get a new shipment of supplies the last week of every other month, weather providing.  My next scheduled shipment was the last of November and I just got a shipment in last week so I’m pretty sure it ain’t too far to Christmas.”

Matt looked over at Kitty with a grin.  “Well, I can’t speak for you all, but I already got my Christmas present.”

TBC


	24. Chapter 24

**The Rescue 24**

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A couple of days after the battle, Buster approached Matt when he’d gotten up while Kitty was sleeping.  “Dillon?” 

“Buster.”  Matt greeted him.  “Do something for you?”

Buster shook his head.  “Nope, but I think I can do something fer you and your little miss.”

“What do you mean?”  Matt asked him curiously.

“Follow me and I’ll show ya.”  Buster replied with a grin.

Totally mystified, Matt followed Buster Musgrove as he led the way to the back of the trading post, through the storeroom, where they’d temporarily held Cash Hogle’s body and to a small door well hidden behind a tall stack of crates.  Taking a key from his pocket, he opened the door onto a beautiful and spacious room stretched across the back of the building. 

“My wife and me lived in these rooms for two year afore she died.”  Buster told Matt.  “After that it was hard for me to stay back here too long.  That’s why I stay in a room upstairs. Easier sleepin’ there.”

Matt looked around at the room.  In the middle of the north wall were two windows.  On the east side of the room in the corner was a large stone fireplace, with a large bed opposite it.  Close to the fireplace were an oak rocking chair and a larger comfortable looking overstuffed chair.   Matt was amazed.

“I don’t come back here much,” he said looking around with saddened eyes.  “I come occasional and knock the dust down but that’s about it.  You and the Miss are welcome to stay here.  If anybody was to come ya’d be safe back here, and nobody’d know ya was anywhere around.  There’s bushes and such in front of the winders and ain’t nobody knows this is back here.”

Matt stood, silently looking at the handmade furniture and the patchwork quilt covering the bed.  It was obvious a lot of love had gone into the making of this one room abode and, looking over at Buster, a lot of grief went into closing it.  “How many years?”  He asked softly.

Buster shook his head for a second before running a hand across his face with a deep sigh.  “Near on 30 years.  We was young ones then.  I was 23 and she was barely 20.  She died trying to give me a son.  Don’t know for sure what happened, but she had troubles and there weren’t no one around to help us.  I wanted to ride for help but she didn’t want me to go.  She…”  He stopped and turned mournful eyes on Matt.  “Sorry,” he said.  “You don’t me worrying ya about such as that.  But anyway, if ya want this for you and the Miss.  It’s yours.”

Matt nodded.  “Thank you, Buster.  We’d appreciate it.”

Buster smiled and reached out a hand to Matt.  “Mighty glad to hear that, Dillon.  Mighty glad.”  

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Kitty bent over the basin for the third time and lost the contents of her stomach as Matt held her hair back and passed a wet cloth over her face.  When her stomach finally stopped heaving, she sat back weakly and gave Matt a tired smile.  “I’m sorry, Matt.”  She apologized.  “I don’t know why my stomach’s been so touchy lately. I can’t seem to get over whatever this is.”

They had been at the trading post now for close to two weeks and though her shoulder was getting better, she seemed to be getting worse.  She’d been consistently sick at her stomach, dizzy and tired.  Matt had done everything he could think of to make her feel better, but all too often his efforts only resulted in her dissolving into tears. 

“Honey, it’s alright.”  He reassured her.  “You can’t help being sick.  I just wish I knew what was causing it so we could get you better.”

“Matt,” Maizie called from the doorway.  She’d come back to check on Kitty and heard her vomiting as well as their conversation and she had a pretty good idea of what was causing Kitty’s illness. 

“Maizie.”  Matt stood when Maizie came in, glancing once again at Kitty’s pale features.

“I, uh… didn’t mean to interrupt you all.”  Maizie said as she entered.  “Please, Matt, sit down.”  When he regained his seat in the chair beside Kitty, Maizie perched herself on the side of the bed.  

 “You didn’t interrupt anything but me being sick again.”  Kitty shook her head ruefully.

“Well, that’s what I’d like to talk to you about, Kitty.”  Maizie looked over at Matt apologetically.  “Do you mind if I talk to Kitty alone for a couple of minutes, Matt?”

Matt got the uncomfortable feeling he was being dismissed because Maizie was going to tell Kitty something terrible and he didn’t want to leave her side if that was the case.  “If you know what’s making her sick, I’d like to know too.”

Maizie contemplated the stubborn set of his jaw and the worried look on Kitty’s face and decided perhaps he should be there for this news.  “Well…”  She paused unsure of exactly how to say it.  She began with a question.  “Kitty, how long have you been feeling like this?”

Kitty searched her memory and shrugged.  “A couple of months or so, I guess.”

Matt looked over at her startled and more than a little disturbed at that revelation.  “Kitty, you never told me it’s been going on that long.”

“And what could you have done about it, if I had?”  She asked logically.  “We’re on the run from the law, Matt.  Not exactly prime conditions under which to seek a doctors cure for something that wasn’t too bad.”

“Wasn’t…”  Matt looked at her, stunned at her take on her illness.  “Wasn’t too bad?  Honey, you can hardly keep anything down, you’re barely eating, you get dizzy just walking across the room…”

“I know that, Matt.”  Kitty cut him off.  “But that’s just the way it’s been this last week or so.  It wasn’t like this at first.”

“Still, you should’ve told me.  Kitty, I hate seeing you sick.”  Matt took her hand.

Maizie listened to the concern in Matt’s voice, and had a feeling what she was about to say was only going to make him worse.  But she hoped, if she was right, and she was pretty sure she was, it would also make him happy.

Kitty gave him a loving smile.  “I know, Matt.  I’m sorry; I just didn’t want to worry you.”  She turned her gaze back to Maizie.  “I’m sorry, Maizie.  We aren’t arguing, exactly.  He just worries more about me than he should.”

Maizie grinned with a shake of her head.  “I understand.  And I know that you’re both beginning to really worry about this but I have a feeling I know what’s wrong and depending on how you look at it, I think it could be very, very right.”

Matt and Kitty looked at her curiously.  “What do you mean?”  Kitty asked.

“Kitty,” Maizie reached over and took her hand.  “Despite my successful operation on your shoulder,” she gave her a self-conscious grin, “I am not a doctor so there’s every possibility that I could be wrong.  But I have been through this twice myself so I’m pretty sure I’m right, when I tell you,” she paused.  What she was going to say was going to be startling to both of them and would mean some changes.

“What?”  Matt prodded her. 

Maizie looked at Matt then back at Kitty.  “Unless I miss my guess, Kitty, I think you’re pregnant.”  She finally told the stunned red head who sat silently for a moment.

“Pregnant?”  She looked up at Maizie then over at Matt.  “Are… are you sure?”

Maizie shrugged.  “Not a hundred percent positive, no.  But you have all the symptoms and unless you know of a reason why you can’t possibly be pregnant then it’s a pretty good possibility.”

Both Kitty and Matt sat staring down.  Neither one spoke.  Maizie understood.  They were not exactly under perfect conditions for having and raising a child.  “Look,” she said as she got up and started for the door.  “You two have a lot to think about and talk about now, so I’m going to leave you to it.  I’ll keep dinner warm for you.”

Once at the door, she paused and looked back at them.  “I know bringing a child into the world is hard under the best of circumstances, but I also know, no two people would be any better at being parents, regardless of the conditions.”

Matt looked up at her words but said nothing as Maizie walked out and softly closed the door behind her.  Looking back over at Kitty, his tongue was still tied but his hands weren’t.  Swiftly, he moved over to the bed and pulled her into his arms as she laid her head on his chest and cried.

TBC


	25. Chapter 25

**The Rescue 25**

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 “I know when it happened.” Kitty said as Matt lay beside her, holding her while she played with the button on his shirt.  “It was our first night alone in the cabin. Remember?”

“I remember.”  Matt said, kissing her on the forehead.  “I wasn’t thinking about anything but you that night.  Sure never thought about you getting pregnant.  I might not have been so… enthusiastic.”

Kitty pulled back from him slightly and looked up into his light blue eyes, uncertain of what she saw.  “Matt,” she finally sighed, pulling even further from his embrace and sitting up, avoiding his gaze.  “I told you to leave me that day you rescued me from that stage coach.  And I still mean what I said.  You don’t have to stay with me.  With Hill and his men and Brody dead, nobody, but these people here, know you helped me.  They won’t tell anyone.  You can still leave.”  She looked away as she said it, not wanting to see it in his eyes if he should want to go.

Matt sat up quickly and reached for her arm, gently forcing her to turn and look at him.  “Leave?  Why on earth do you think I’d want to leave?  Kitty, I told you, I love you.  I’m not leaving you, especially not now.”

“But, Matt,” she protested.  “If you’re not happy about this, then I don’t want you to feel like you’re being forced to stay.  You don’t have to, you know.  You don’t.”

Matt dropped his head with a weary sigh.  “I have done very little, since this started, that I  _had_  to do.”  He told her.  “No one forced me to pull you from that stage, or anything else I’ve done since.  I’m here, Kitty Russell, because I want to be.  And as for me being happy…” he paused just long enough to make sure she was looking at him.  “I am very happy, and scared and worried and all the other emotions that go with news of this sort.  Us having a baby is going to complicate things. But we’ll deal with it.  As long as you’re alright, everything else we can deal with.”

Kitty only needed a second to look into his eyes to see the truth of his words shining there.  “Oh, Matt.”  She cried, throwing her arms around him again.

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They talked the rest of the afternoon and way into the evening, a feat for the reticent lawman.  But he had to make sure that Kitty had no lingering doubts of his allegiance to her and their soon to be baby.  When he was sure of that, he decided to change the subject to one a little happier.

“I was thinking about Christmas being right around the corner. Like I said, I already have my Christmas present.  But what about you?  What would you like for Christmas?”

For some reason the question struck Kitty as heartbreaking and her face crumpled as she thought of all they’d gone through and lost since September when she’d been falsely convicted of murder.  Pulling away from Matt, she wrapped her good arm around herself and paced away toward the window, trying hard not to cry but losing the battle anyway. 

“Kitty?”  Matt asked with concern.  “Honey?  What’s wrong?” He asked as he gently turned her to face him and saw the tears. 

“I’m… I’m sorry, Matt.”  She sobbed as he pulled her back into the protective circle of his arms.  “I… I just… I’m sorry.”  She didn’t know how to tell him how she felt because such a torrent of emotions swept over her right then that it was hard to concentrate on any one of them. 

Glad to have Matt beside her, with Festus there as well, she was never the less saddened, knowing she’d most likely never see Doc or Sam again, or any of the other people in Dodge that she’d grown to love.  Thrilled at knowing she was carrying the child of the man she loved more than anything, she was also terrified of the thought that something could happen there in the middle of nowhere.   She’d have very little help to save her baby or maybe ever herself.  

Happy that she’d been saved from hanging, she was still a wanted criminal and most likely would be for the rest of her life.  She would always be looking over her shoulder, as would Matt and their child.  

Burying her head in Matt’s chest, she cried for all the things she had and all that she lost and all the things that she would never ever have a chance to have.

Matt stood holding her tightly, not understanding the reason for the tears but knowing that right then it didn’t matter.  His job was to hold her and let her know how much he loved her and later they would figure everything else out.

When her sobs finally subsided, Matt pushed her slightly back and brushed her hair out of her face, tenderly tucking a strand behind her ear as he took in the beautiful women in his arms.  Gone was the harsh makeup and form fitting, sequined gowns of the Long Branch owner. 

Instead he held only of the loveliest women he’d ever laid eyes on.  Brilliant blue eyes, gloriously bright auburn hair, soft freckles covering her cheeks and nose and the most tempting mouth with a lovely smile.  She looked younger and more vulnerable then he’d ever seen her and his heart squeezed in his chest at his desire to protect her.  “You okay now?” 

Kitty sniffled as she nodded.  “I will be.”  She answered.  “I just got to thinking of everything we have and don’t have and I… I just felt like crying.  I’m really sorry, Matt.”  She sniffled again.

Matt hugged her tightly and chuckled.  “You have nothing to be sorry for, Honey.  But you know, you still haven’t told me what you want for Christmas.”

Kitty pulled away and looked up at him with a soft, serene smile.  “I already have it.”  She said as she rubbed her stomach then reached up, pulling him down for a kiss.

TBC


	26. Chapter 26

**The Rescue 26**

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Doc ambled down the board sidewalk, head down and collar up to ward against the cold.  Christmas was just a few days away but he didn’t feel much like celebrating.  The Ronnigers had just delivered a healthy baby boy but he took little pleasure in seeing the chubby cherub in its mother’s arms.

In truth, Doc was taking very little pleasure in too much of anything these days.  Two people that he loved as his own children were gone along with Festus, a man he considered to be one of his best friends, though he would’ve been loath to admit it.   He wished like heck he knew where they were and if they were alright, but he knew there was no way they’d be able to contact him and let him know.

There had been vague rumors of them being seen in such places as Texas, Louisiana and even St. Louis.  But Doc had his doubts about those reports.  If he knew Matt, and he did, Matt would be heading as far from civilization as he could and putting as much distance between them and what passed for the law.  He wouldn’t be easy to find.

“Good morning, Doctor Adams.”  A low pitched voice sounded behind him.  Doc turned and saw the new Marshal of Dodge City coming up beside him.  At about 6 foot 3, with light brown hair and hazel eyes, he looked nothing like Matt Dillon and he acted nothing like him.  But the powers that be in Washington declared him a proper replacement for the man who’d done more to settle this part of the country than anyone else.

“What’s good about it?”  Doc scowled at the man.  “It’s colder than blue blazes and looks like it might snow.”

Clay Turner replied to Doc’s onslaught with a dimpled grin.  He had heard that Doc Adams and Kitty Russell had been close friends along with the former Dodge City Marshal Matt Dillon and the scruffy hill man Festus Hagen.  With all of them gone, he supposed Doc had a right to be a little cranky.  “Well, Dr. Adams, you are right in that’s cold and you could be right about the snow, but I still think it’s a fine morning.”

Doc took a swipe of his mustache and shook his head.  “Well you just go ahead and think it, if you want to.  I’ve got better things to do.”

As Doc turned away, Turner chuckled, watching him leave.  He wasn’t offended by the doctor’s reaction to him, any more than he was by the other people in town.  Few people showed him much welcome.  Matt Dillon, it seemed, left some mighty big shoes to fill. 

But he wasn’t worried.  If the rumors he’d heard were correct, then Dillon was on the run with the former owner of the Long Branch and his friend Hagen.  When they were finally caught, and he had no doubts that eventually they would be run to ground, Dillon’s shoes would be a whole lot smaller.

As Turner headed to the jail and Doc hurried along to Delmonico’s for breakfast, Sam set about opening up the Long Branch and making it ready for the day ahead. Though few knew it, the Long Branch was still owned by Kitty Russell.  Sam took great care of it for her and any profit it made went into a specific account set up just for her, under Sam’s name.  But as far as most people knew, Kitty had given the business to him.  It was best that way.

While taking the chairs down from the tables and getting the bar set up, Sam thought about the beautiful woman he still called boss and prayed she was alright.  Of course, he knew she was with Matt Dillon and Festus and that knowledge made him rest a little easier.  

Still, it was a dangerous world for someone on the run, whether they were guilty or not.  He just hoped they’d found a safe place to at least last the winter.

Many miles away, while Doc ate his solitary breakfast and Sam worked silently and alone in the saloon, two men made their way carefully through the snow heading to Turtle Crick.  They were on a mission and they had a short time to accomplish it.

“Do you think we’ll be able to get there and back in time?”  The one asked the other as he shivered on his horse and looked around at the desolate features of the snow laden landscape around him.

“Cain’t say.”  The other replied tersely.  “Mebbe.”

“Well, I hope so.”  The first one replied.  “I made a promise to send a wire about Matt Dillon and Kitty Russell and I intend to do so.  But I’d sure like to get back quickly after that.”

Festus nodded leading the way further down the trail.  “Me too.”  He told Percival Atkins.  

TBC


	27. Chapter 27

**The Rescue 27**

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Christmas morning dawned bright and early and cold.  Matt rolled over in bed to find that Kitty was already up and gone, something he couldn’t remember happening since the last time he’d been seriously wounded and she was taking care of him.  And other than his leg, which was almost healed, he wasn’t wounded.

Worried about her, he got up quickly and got dressed.  Exiting their new temporary home of a few days, he made his way through the storeroom and into the main body of the trading post.  No one was at the counter but he heard noises coming from the Kitchen/dining area.  Walking around the corner, he found Kitty and Maizie animatedly talking and laughing while they worked side by side.

“Well, good morning.”  He greeted them.  “You two are up awful early.”

“Christmas dinner doesn’t fix its self, Matt.”  Kitty observed.  “Maizie and I have a lot to do to have things ready before then.”

Matt looked at the food laden tables and chuckled. “You two expecting an army?”

Maizie turned and looked at him with an arched brow.  “There are four men, two women and two children here.  I hardly think we have too much.  Besides part of this is breakfast.  We assumed you all would want some.”

Matt wanted to argue that there were currently only three men there since Festus was currently out on an errand but he decided against saying anything right then.  And anyway, breakfast did sound good. 

However his hunger was temporarily forgotten when he heard Kitty hiss in pain and drop the pan she’d been holding.  “Kitty, you okay?”  He quickly stepped over to her and took her arm, trying to direct her to a chair. 

But Kitty pulled back and shook her head.  “I’m alright, Matt.”  She reached up and gently massaged her sore shoulder.  “I just moved my arm a little too fast and jarred my shoulder.”

But Matt wasn’t convinced.  “Sit down here, Kitty.  You need to take it easy.”

Kitty gave him a glare as she backed out of his reach.  “I am not helpless, Matt Dillon.  I am fine.  I just jarred my shoulder a little.  Don’t treat me like a child.”

“Kitty, I am not treating you like a child.  I just don’t want you hurt anymore. I think you need to take a break and rest.”  He protested moving towards her again.

“Matt, I am not an invalid.”  Kitty said through clenched teeth.  “Don’t treat me like one.”

Just then Buster came around the corner, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and looking at them with confusion.  “What’s going on?”  He asked taking in the angry look Kitty was currently throwing at Matt.

Maizie knew what was going on and she had an idea of where this was going.  She decided to step in.  “Uh, Gentleman, we appear to be running low on firewood.  Would you two go out and get us some, please?”

Matt watched Kitty for a moment longer before glancing over at Maizie.  He knew what she was doing and figured she was right.  He, more than anyone, knew how stubborn his red head could be and he really didn’t want to argue with her, especially not on Christmas morning.  “Sure.”  He shook his head.  “I’ll go get my coat. Come on Buster.”

Kitty said nothing as she watched the men go, sorry for her sudden anger but glad Matt wasn’t hovering over her any longer.  Finally though, when he disappeared from view, she pulled out a chair and sat down with a sigh.  Her shoulder was really beginning to throb with the pain radiating down her arm and the burst of energy she’d awoke with, was now almost completely gone.

Maizie shook her head at her with a grin.  “You are one stubborn woman, Kitty Russell.”

Kitty nodded.  “I know.  And it’s gotten me into trouble a time or two but I hate to be babied.  I’m not made of china and Matt knows that.”

Maizie shook her head again as she sat down next to Kitty.  “No he doesn’t, Kitty.”  She said.  “What he knows is that in the last few months you’ve been hurt in a number of ways and you’re now carrying his child.  To him you’re even more fragile than china and he will do anything to keep you and that baby safe.”

Kitty guiltily dropped her head.  “Oh, I know he cares about me, more than I deserve.  But I’ve always taken care of myself and it bothers me more than you know to have to depend on anyone, even Matt.  I just…”  Her words faltered as her tears began and she dissolved into tears.

Maizie reached over and pulled her into a comforting hug, understanding completely the emotions wrapped up in being pregnant and feeling vulnerable when you’d never felt that way before.  For several moments the two women sat in silence as one wept and the other comforted. 

Finally Kitty pulled away and got to her feet, reaching for a towel to dry her face.  “I’m sorry, Maizie.  I don’t know what came over me.  I’m normally not one to just cry at the drop of a hat.”

“You’re pregnant.”  Maizie reminded her with a smile.  “Pregnancy messes with a lot of things.  You’ll find yourself doing a lot of things you might not normally do.  Including rest more often.”  She arched brow in meaning. 

Sighing Kitty nodded and reached for the apron she had donned.  “I guess you’re right and I do have to admit, I’m a little tired right now.”

“Then go lay down for a while.”  Maizie stood and helped her with the apron and headed her for the door.  “We’ve got most everything done for right now that we can anyway and if I need anything else; I’ll get Constance in here.  It wouldn’t hurt her to learn how to do some of this stuff.” 

“Are you sure?”  Kitty asked.  “I feel guilty about sleeping when there’s still so much to do.”

“Go lay down.”  Maizie said sternly but without any rancor.  “I’ll call you if I need you.   Otherwise I want you to rest and take care of yourself and that baby.  Please?” She added.

Kitty nodded with a sigh.  “Alright.  I’ll go.”

Not too long after Kitty left and returned to the back of the building, Matt and Buster came in, arms full of firewood.  “Festus just got back with her present.”  Matt told her happily.  “He’s putting the horses up and will be right in.”

Maizie grinned.  “Oh, that’s wonderful.”  She told them happily.  “Now I know it really will be a good Christmas.”

Kitty awoke around noon when Matt sat on the edge of the bed and gently caressed her face.  “Hey, sleepyhead.”  He teased.  “Wondering if you’d like to get up and eat something and see your Christmas present.”

Kitty sat up with a frown.  “Christmas present?  Matt, you shouldn’t have done that.  I don’t need anything.”

“Well, maybe not, young Lady,” Doc said from the doorway.  “But I’m here anyway.”

Kitty’s head shot up and her mouth dropped open in shock as she watched Doc shuffle into the room, a proud grin on his face.  “Doc!!” She yelled as got up and threw herself into his arms.  “Oh, Doc, I missed you.”  She cried.

For several moments, Doc said nothing as he wrapped his arms around her and just held the woman he thought of his daughter.  “I missed you too.”  He finally mumbled as he pulled away and quickly dashed away a tear.  “But I’m here now and I want a look at you.  Matt told me what happened to you and about the baby.  I want to examine you and make sure you’re alright.”

Kitty shook her head as she wrapped her arms around him again.  “I’m alright now, Doc.  I’ve got everything I want now.”

TBC   


	28. Chapter 28

**The Rescue 28**

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“So,” Doc said as he finally pushed away from the dinner table.  “When I got the telegram from Festus telling me where you all were and that I could get at least as far as Turtle Crick by stage, I got my self here as quick as I could.”

“Well it weren’t actual me what sent that there wire, Doc.”  Festus said.  “It were Percival here that done it.  I just rode with him.”

Kitty looked up in surprise.  “Is that why you two went to town a couple of weeks ago?  I thought you all went to buy presents for the kids.”

“Well, we did,” Festus answered, helping himself to another piece of pie.  “And ol’ Doc here was your’n.”

Kitty shook her in amazement.  “I can’t believe you kept that a secret.  I thought yesterday you’d left to go hunting.”

“Nope.”  Festus grinned proudly.  “I rode back to meet the stage and bring your present.  I had to keep it quiet like.  Don’t ya see?”

“Well, I’m glad he was able to keep it quiet.”  Doc smiled over at Kitty and extended the same to Matt and Festus beside her.  “I loved the look on your face when I walked in that room.”

 “I was stunned.”  Kitty remarked.  “I still can’t believe you’re here, though.   I mean, what about your patients?”

“I called in a favor.”  Doc smirked.  “I have a friend in Denver, a Dr. Harrington.  He couldn’t come himself, but he sent a young doctor from his clinic out to Dodge to cover for me.  As soon as that young man got off the train, I handed him the keys to my office and told him, ‘have at it’.  I didn’t want to waste any more time than I had to, in getting here.”

Kitty shook her head in wonder.  “When Matt told me that Festus had gone to Turtle Crick for a surprise for Christmas, I thought it was for the kids. I didn’t know he was ordering a gift for me.”

“Well, Kitty.”  Matt sat back.  “It wasn’t only for you.  Having Doc here to check on you and make sure you’re alright, is a gift for me as well.”  He said as Kitty gave him a loving glance.

“Oh, that reminds me.”  Doc suddenly exclaimed.  Reaching in his coat pocket, he fished out a fairly large envelope and handed it over to Kitty.  “Sam sent that to you.”

Kitty accepted the envelope and looked at the large bold writing on the front.  “Miss Kitty.”  Turning it over she lifted the tab and slid out the letter contained therein. 

 _“Miss Kitty,”_ it started.

_“I just wanted you to know that I’m praying for you and the Marshal and I hope you all are well and good.  I also want you to know that I am taking good care of the Long Branch for you and have set up a special account where I’ve placed all of the profits.  When you get where you can, let me know where to send the money.”_

Though the words had flowed across the paper up to this point, Kitty could see a slight smudge where it looked like her friend had hesitated before he had started writing again.

_“I also want you to know that I have never known a better person than you.  You helped me and gave me a job when many others wouldn’t.  You trusted me and I will always be forever grateful for that. I miss you and I always will.   If there is anything I can do for you or the Marshal in anyway, you only have to contact me._

_Take care and Merry Christmas.  Sam.”_

Matt and Doc watched her face closely and saw the threatening tears lingering at the edges of her eyelashes.  Matt wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, kissing her on the forehead.  He knew she was missing her friend and he also knew they’d most likely never see him again.

 “Well, what do you all say we go into the other room and open presents?”  Maizie asked, trying to lighten the mood.  She had seen Kitty’s reaction to the letter as well.

“YEAH!!”  Freddie yelled, causing the adults to laugh.

While Freddie exclaimed over the rifle he’d gotten from his parents, the wooden train that Festus had carved for him, and the new boots that Kitty and Matt had given money to buy for him, Constance looked in amazement and awe at the dress, reticule and shoes she’d received. 

Her mother had told Kitty of a dress at the general store in Turtle Crick that Constance had wanted but had been refused due to the expense.  Kitty insisted that the Atkins allow her to buy the dress when she learned that Festus was planning on riding to the town.

The Atkins had at first refused.  Noting the uncertain future that both she and Matt faced and that they just might need every dime they had.  But Kitty insisted and when Festus was ready to leave, Kitty handed him a small envelope and told him to spend the money on the kids on her and Matt’s behalf.  Now seeing the expressions on their faces, she knew she’d spent the money wisely.

Sitting beside her, Matt too watched the children and his mind went to the child that would soon be born to him and Kitty.  The Atkins were excellent parents and had two fine kids.  Would he be as good a father to his own child?  He of course had no doubts about Kitty.  She’d always been good with kids and would, he knew, make a wonderful mother.  That is as long as she was free.

“What are you looking so gloomy about?”  Kitty asked when she noted his expression.

“I’m not gloomy.”  Matt grinned at her, putting away his thoughts for a while. “Just thinking, is all.”

“Thinking about what?”  Kitty asked curiously.

Matt shook his head deciding not to share that with her right then.  “Nothing much.” He said as he got to his feet.  “I’m gonna go out and gather in some more wood.  Looks to be mighty cold tonight.”

“Hold up, Matt.”  Doc said as he too got up. “I think I’ll go with you to stretch my legs a little.  I spent hours on that durn stage and then hours more on that blamed horse Festus brought me.  I kinda think I’d like to walk a little.”

“Alright, Doc.”  Matt nodded.  “You coming, Festus?”

“Sure thang, Matthew.”  Festus agreed, gaining his feet and shrugging on his coat. 

“You want me to help?”  Percival asked preparing to rise and follow them.

“No, no.  That’s alright.”  Matt hastily reassured him.  “Me and Festus can handle it.”  Grabbing his coat, Matt led Doc and Festus outside before Percival could insist.

Kitty watched as the three men walked out, knowing it wasn’t wood that was taking them out into the cold.  She was tempted to go with them, but she knew they’d shoo her back in and even if they didn’t they’d not talk in front of her.  

Besides, she knew sooner or later she’d find out what they talked about either from Matt or Festus.  Doc, not being as gullible as Festus, nor as vulnerable to her charms as Matt, would be a whole tougher nut to crack.

Once outside of the building, Matt turned quickly to Doc.  “Is she alright?”  He wasted no time in getting to his concerns.

Doc stuffed his hands into his pockets as he considered the question.  “Well, her shoulder’s healing properly.”  He said carefully.

“What about the baby?”  Matt demanded, not liking the way Doc was hesitating.

Doc freed one of his hands and took a swipe of his mustache.  “So far, the best I can tell, the baby seems fine.  It’s got a good healthy heartbeat and I couldn’t find any signs of distress.”

“And Kitty?”  Matt watched the older man’s face closely.

“Kitty…”  Doc hesitated again.  “Kitty’s alright for now.”  Doc answered.  “She’s a little underweight and her heart rate was a little faster than I liked but if you can get her to slow down and rest more often and eat better, she stands a good chance of delivering a healthy baby with few problems.”

“That there’s awful hard to do.”  Festus observed.  “Miss Kitty’s set on doin’ thangs her way.”

Matt nodded in agreement.  “Yeah, I know she is.  But somehow, we’re going to have to convince her otherwise.  I think she’s lost enough, don’t you?”

Both men earnestly concurred and said so.

“What about after that baby’s born, Matt?”  Doc asked.  “You can’t take a child on the run.  And living up in the mountains, away from civilization, isn’t the safest thing in the world either.”

Matt shrugged, running a hand through his hair.  “I don’t know, Doc.”  He admitted.  “I have no idea what we’ll do after.  All I know is that woman inside deserves to be free and safe and I will do whatever I have to, to insure that.  Even if it means my death.”

Watery blue eyes looked up at the man he regarded as a son.  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, Matt.”  ‘Because she’s gonna need you.’ Doc finished the thought without saying it.

TBC


	29. Chapter 29

**The Rescue 29**

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As winter rocked on, the inhabitants of the trading post settled into a routine of sorts.  Doc decided not to return to Dodge, at least for the time being and instead set up residence in one of Buster’s upstairs rooms.  He would spend his days, checking on Kitty, arguing with Festus, or playing checkers with Matt.

He and the older trading post owner had also developed a friendship of sorts and spent many hours discussing various things and sundry, especially the fate of a certain red head and her tall man, whom they both cared a great deal for.

Of course he also made himself available to the Atkins family as confidant, doctor and grandfather figure.

Maizie had proven to be as good a nurse to Doc as Kitty had always been and when Freddie had foolishly climbed a snow laden tree and broken his arm in the fall down, she had stood steadfastly by Doc’s side, helping him to set and cast the break despite the fact that she cringed every time her baby cried out in pain.

Few travelers made their way to the post during those days, finding it safer to either to stay put where they were till spring or head further south where the snow pack was not quite as heavy and the travel not quite so treacherous.  The few who did manage to straggle in, never knew that anyone, besides the store keeper, the ornery old man with the drooping mustache and the family of four was there. 

During those brief periods of time, that someone would show up needing supplies for the trail or perhaps a night’s lodging, Matt, Kitty and Festus made certain to stay out of sight and sound.  So far they had escaped detection and felt fairly safe.  That was a blessing to Matt, worried as he was about Kitty.

Though, according to Doc, the baby was fine and healthy, the same couldn’t be said for Kitty.  Though she tried her best, she continued to have trouble keeping food down and despite getting copious amounts of rest, she consistently felt tired and worn out. 

The latter fact irritated her more than anyone knew.  Kitty had always been a doer, someone who took care of herself and, more often than not, others as well.  But in the last couple of months she’d been forced to let others take care of her and it just didn’t sit well.

But every time she’d reach the point of total irritation at her plight, Matt would remind her of the child she carried and his love for both of them.  So she would sigh, sit back and allow herself to be waited on, albeit with gritted teeth. 

There were times though that nothing Matt, Doc or anyone else could say would keep her in bed.  Those times, despite the pleas of everyone, Kitty would pull herself from the bed and throw herself into work of some kind. 

So far she had managed to help Buster not only update his ledgers but also identify ways he could save money.  She had helped Freddie in his schooling and taught Constance, without her father’s knowledge, how to apply makeup properly.  She had even helped Maizie in the kitchen a time or two to prepare meals for the overflowing trading post.

Of course with each burst of energy came an even longer period of exhaustion.  And when she would finally consent to return to her bed, she would spend a considerable amount of time recuperating.  Doc refrained from any ‘I told you so’s’ when that happened, knowing it would do no good.  But he would hover close and make sure to check on her a little more closely at such times. 

Kitty Russell was a formidable woman and one not easily kept down but she was also pregnant and not in the best of health which concerned the physician more than he let on, even to the tall man that loved her. 

However, Matt wasn’t blind.  He saw the paleness of her skin and the thinness of her frame, despite the ever growing bulge in her mid-section.  He was more concerned for her now than ever.  The only thing that gave him any relief from his worries was knowing that Doc was there to care for her health and that the people who currently surrounded her, cared about her.  He knew he could count on them to help him protect her if the need arose.

But he also knew there was one thing that he could for his beautiful red head, that he hadn’t done so far, and it was the next thing on his agenda.

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It had started snowing about noon, on February 3 and by February 5 the occupants of the trading post were quite certain they were in for a long spell of bad weather. 

The men, except for Doc, had spent a considerable amount of time chopping and hauling in wood.  Festus and Matt and even Atkins had gone hunting and despite the time of year had managed to bag an elk and other smaller game.    

Doc, though he’d been willing to help in the work, had been asked, by Matt, to instead stay inside and keep watch of the women and children.  Matt wanted to take no chances of anything happening to his friend and the only one he could trust with Kitty’s health.

On the evening of February 6, Matt and Kitty were in their room, laying side by side on the bed talking quietly and enjoying the warmth of the fire and the security of knowing they were safe, for a while a least.  They had spent the day as they had the previous one.  Matt had risen early and gone out with Festus to take care of the animals in the barn and various other chores that needed doing.

Kitty, having felt really good for a change, had gotten up and joined Maizie in the kitchen, helping her to prepare both breakfast and dinner before her strength failed her and she had to retire to her room.  Later when Matt joined her, they laid together on the bed, simply reveling in the closeness to each other.

“You know, Matt, I’ve been thinking.”  She said as he laid beside her, his big hand splayed across her stomach feeling the baby kick.

“About what?”  He asked grinning at the busy child beneath its mother’s heart.

“About what we’re going to name the baby.”  Large blue eyes captured his, impressing upon him how important this discussion was to her.  “I mean if it’s a boy we can name it after you but what about if it’s a girl?  I really don’t want my daughter to have my name.  She should have her own name”

Matt sat up, propping his head up with his arm and looked down at her.  “I don’t want our son named after me either, Kitty.  I feel the same way as you do that boy or girl they should have their identity separate from ours.”

Kitty sighed.  “Especially mine.”  She said ruefully.  “In a way, I hate the thought of our child even knowing who I am.”

“Kitty Russell!”  Matt exclaimed.   “You are the most wonderful person I know.  Our baby is lucky to have you as its mother.”

“Lucky?”  Kitty scoffed.  “I’m a saloon woman on the run from the law for murdering a man and I’m pregnant out of wedlock.  That’s not much of a role model for a baby, Matt.”

Matt pulled away from her and sat up, almost angrily scowling at her.  “Kitty, I never, ever want to hear anything like that coming from your mouth again.  You are a business woman, not a saloon woman.  And you’re on the run because you were framed for a murder you didn’t commit.”

“And the other?”  She asked softly.

Matt took a deep breath, before gently caressing her face with his callused thumb.  “The other is my fault, Kitty.  Not yours.  You were always clear with me about what you wanted, but you always took the back seat to my badge because you knew it was what I wanted.  Things have changed now, though, and I think it’s about time we remedied that last one.”

Kitty arched a brow at him and pulled herself up into a sitting position.  “And just how do we do that?  You have a preacher in your pocket or something?”

Matt chuckled.  “No, but I do have the next best thing.”

“What are you talking about?”  She looked at him perplexed.   “I may not know everything there is to know about everyone here, but I’m pretty sure none of them are preachers.”

“True,” Matt agreed.  “But Buster is a justice of the peace for this territory.”

“You’re kidding me?”  Kitty looked at him in surprised joy. 

“Nope.”  He shrugged.  “He mentioned it the other day and it got me to thinking.  Now I don’t have a ring or anything to give you, but if you’d take my IOU for it, I’d sure like to marry you.  I may not want my child to have my first name but I’d love for it to have my last.”

Unbidden tears sprang to Kitty’s eyes as she took in the very serious expression on Matt’s ruggedly handsome face.  “You… you don’t have to.”  She said.  “I… I love you, Matt.  You don’t need to prove your love to me.”

Matt reached over and took her lips in a soft sweet kiss.  “It has nothing to do with proving anything.  I simply want to do what’s right for you and the baby…  and for me.  I love you, Kitty.  And now without that badge weighing me down, I can be free to say that and to show it.  And the best way I know how to do that, is to marry you.  If you’ll have me, that is.”

Kitty pulled his face back to hers.  “I will.” She kissed him, hard.  “You bet I will.”

TBC


	30. Chapter 30

**The Rescue 30**

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February fourteenth was in appearance from the outside, the same as the day before and most likely the day yet to come.  But to the people at the Trading Post it was a great deal more.  It was the day Matt and Kitty said their vows and put their already completely joined futures under one name.  The name of Dillon.

Matt had suggested that perhaps they should use assumed names, but Kitty refused that idea.  Matt had, she rightly observed, done nothing remotely wrong and his name bore no shame.  It was a good name and one she wanted her child to carry and be as proud of as she was.

The day chosen for the nuptials was more pragmatic than romantic.  Though secretly, she was pleased as well that her wedding day would coincide with the most loving day of the year.  However, the morning of her big day, Kitty wasn’t so sure she’d even be physically able to attend her own wedding.

She woke that morning, as she did most mornings, nauseous and weak.  But she pushed past her physical limitations and made herself get up.  She was not going to mess this day up by being sick.  Maizie had given her a dress and was going to loan her some shoes and with a little makeup, she was going do her best to be presentable enough to marry the man of her dreams.  That was, if her baby would let her have a few hours of peace.

Laying her hand gently on her widening middle she looked down to the child that would soon be and spoke softly.  “Now listen here, little one.  Mama and papa are going to get married today and I need you to behave.  Okay?  You settle down and maybe we can do this right.”

Just as she finished speaking, the baby lightly kicked once more and then was still, as in answer to her plea.  Smiling, she sat down and gently rubbed her stomach.  “Thank you, baby.”

Just then a light tap came at the door and Maizie poked her head in.  “Came to see if you needed any help.”

Kitty nodded.  “All I can get.  It’s been a while since I’ve worn much more than jeans and Matt’s shirt.  And I haven’t put makeup on since forever.”

“Well, if you go by that big man that loves you, you never need to wear makeup.”  Maizie grinned.  “But I understand.  Today is your day and you want it to be special.  And we’re going to do everything we can to make it that way.”

Kitty looked down ruefully at Matt’s too big shirt and her expanded waistline and shook her head.  “I may take more work than you know.”

Maizie shook her head.  “Nonsense.  Now, I finished the alterations on the dress and I’m pretty sure it will fit you just fine.  Even pregnant, you’re smaller than I am.  For shoes, I brought a pair of mine and a pair of Constance’s.  Hopefully one of them will fit you.  As for makeup, I have some but not much.  But then like I said, you don’t need much.  You are a beautiful woman, Kitty.”

Kitty shook her.  “I thank you, Maizie.  But I’m not so sure about that.”

Maizie laughed as she gave her friend a hug.  “I am and even more importantly, so is the man you’re marrying.  So what do you say, we make you realize it too.”

As the women began the process of getting ready, Matt stood in the front of the trading post building and looked out the window at the still falling snow, a cup of coffee in his hand, thinking about what the day would hold.

He had, of course, risen at dawn.  Needing to burn off nervous energy, he had gone outside, helped Buster and Festus with the animals, chopped wood and carried in several arm loads.  When time for the ceremony came closer, he stepped into Doc’s room and got himself as ready as he would ever be. 

Though his clothing choice was limited to what he had on and a borrowed tie from Percival.   Matt had actually taken a bath of sorts and spent several minutes slicking back his hair and dabbing on a small amount of cologne that Buster had loaned him.

To his mind, he would never be a handsome man, as he saw flaws in every facet of his physical appearance.  But he knew that Kitty did not see the same image that he held of himself and that she loved him.  To the man who thought he’d never have a family, or ever want one, that was all that mattered.

“He shore does look scared.”  Festus said with a chuckle and a hand to his chin as he and Doc stood in the back watching him.

But Doc shook his head.  “No, he’s not scared.  Or at least not in the way you mean it.  But he is taking an even bigger step than he already has and that does give a man, pause.”

“Reckon ya might be right there.”  Festus agreed.  “But Matthew’ll be alright.  He’s a marryin’ the most wonderfulsome woman in this whole dang country, don’t ya see?  He cain’t get none better.”

Doc smiled and nodded.  “Well, that is true and I know Matt feels the same way.  And I know him well enough to know that he’d never abandon Kitty, married to her or not.  Still, marriage for a man like him, is an awful important undertaking.”

“Where’s Matt at?”  Buster asked as he stepped up beside the two friends.

Doc nodded his head towards the front.  “Up there.”

Buster looked forward and saw the tall man standing rigidly at the window, a cup held loosely in his hand, untouched.  “I talked to the ladies a few minutes ago.”  He confided.  “That little girl is lookin’ mighty pretty and is about ready to waltz down the aisle, that is, if he is.”

Doc smiled.  “I think he is.”  Turning to Buster, he placed a hand on his new friends arm.  “You tell Kitty he’ll be ready when she is.”  Glancing over at Festus, Doc took a swipe of his mustache and walked to where Matt stood, clearing his throat to warn him of his approach. 

“Looks awful cold out there.”  Doc observed as he looked out the window at the snow covered landscape.

Matt nodded.  “Yeah.”

“You thinking about going out into it?”  Doc’s gray blue eyes watched him closely.

Matt looked down and shook his head.  “No.  No, I’m tired of being out in the cold, Doc.  I want to be where it’s warm from now on.”  Raising his head, he looked over at Doc.  “I don’t know what the future’s gonna hold for either one of us.  And I know her getting pregnant wasn’t the best idea for two people in our situation but in a way, it was the best thing that could’ve ever happened.  It forced me to think.”

Doc took a swipe of his mustache.  “Uh, huh.  And what did your astute mind come up with?”

“It made me think of how lucky a man I am and how happy I am, regardless of the circumstances.”  Matt grinned at him.

Doc nodded with a grin of his own.  “Good, than what do you say, we make that happiness official, huh?  Buster tells me she’s ready if you are.”

Matt sat the cup on a nearby table.  “I’m ready.”

But Doc stopped Matt as he turned.  “Here,” he said as he placed a small black box in Matt’s hand.

Matt looked down to see the ring that Doc had won a couple of years prior in a promotion from a whiskey company.  Startled he looked up at the grin on Doc’s face.  “How….”

“When I got that wire from Festus, I figured this just might come in handy sometime.”  He closed Matt’s hand over the box with both of his.  “Remember, I said there was fair damsels and brave knights.  I meant you two when I said it, Matt.  I’m just glad I didn’t have to wait to give it to you as long as I thought I would.”

Matt stood silently for several seconds overcome with emotion.  Finally he nodded.  “Thank you, Doc.  I promise, I will try to live up to that.”

Doc shook his head.  “You already have.  Now let’s go find your fair damsel.”

TBC


	31. Chapter 31

**The Rescue 31**

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Though they were not in a church, and had no music or all the decorations normally associated with a wedding it didn’t diminish the joy of the day or the love felt by all in attendance.  While Constance stood off to the side singing a slightly off key version of Beautiful Dreamer, Festus and Matt stood near the counter with Buster and Maizie on the other side pensively waiting. 

“You about ready?”  Doc asked when he made it back to retrieve Kitty and walk her ‘up the aisle’ so to speak. 

Kitty nodded with only a slight tremble to give away her emotions.  “I am.”  She took a deep breath.  “Is Matt…”

“Matt’s more than ready.” Doc smiled.  “I think he’s finally realizing what he’s been losing out on all these years and doesn’t want to lose out on any more.”

Kitty looked down before raising questioning eyes to Doc.  “I know he loves me, Doc.  He’s proved that in more ways than one.  But are you sure he’s doing this because he wants to?  I don’t want him to feel trapped by me and the baby.”

Doc chuckled as he took her hand.  “The only thing that ever trapped him was that badge of his.  This freed him, Honey.  He can now do what he wants to do, what _he_ thinks is right without worry about what the law says.  Kitty, he is finally doing what’s best for him as well as for you.  And no matter what happens from here on in, he and you will be better off together.”

Kitty gave him a teary eyed smile as she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.  “Take me to him.  Will ya, Doc?”

Out front, Matt tugged at his color and looked around.  Although the Atkins girl was doing her best; her off key singing was getting on his nerves and he was beginning to wonder what was taking so long for Kitty to come out.

Suddenly Constance stopped mid-verse of her solo and looked towards the curtained off area which led to the store room.   All eyes turned in that direction to see the curtain pull back and Doc walk through with a vision on his arm.

Kitty was, to just about everyone there, the loveliest bride they had ever seen.  Her dress, though not white and lacy was still a very pretty light blue with puffed sleeves and a high waist to accommodate her condition.  Her hair was down, tied with a blue ribbon and though she wore makeup, it was not the thick makeup she’d often worn at the Long Branch but just a light amount, meant to accentuate her beauty. 

Smiling from ear to ear, Matt stood and watched as Doc guided her towards him and placed her hand into his when they reached his side.  “You are so beautiful.”  He said hoarsely.  “God, I love you, lady.”

Kitty beamed up at him.  “I love you too, Cowboy.”

“Unh, huh.”  Buster cleared his throat and a small laugh was heard as Matt and Kitty turned back towards him.

“We are here today,” Buster said using his most authoritative voice and words written down for him by Doc, “to join these two people together in holy matrimony.”  Smiling at the couple in front of him, he directed his attention to the small group assembled there first.  “Who gives this woman to this man?”

“I do.”  Doc said proudly.

Buster nodded at him as Doc stepped back beside Atkins and his children.  Turning back to Matt and Kitty he smiled and looked back down at the paper in front of him before setting it aside and addressing the soon-to-be newlyweds. 

“Doc, wrote me a bunch of fine words to say at this time and I’ll read em to ya in a minute.”  He paused, wanting to express his thoughts properly.  “But I wanna say this first.  I ain’t known you two as long as Doc or Festus here, but I know you two are special and I’m pleased as punch to be able to stand here and marry ya up proper.  I think you two are some of the finest people I ever met and I know you’re gonna be happy.”

Matt looked down at Kitty then back at Buster.  “We already are.”  He said softly.

Kitty locked eyes with him and nodded.  The only thing she could see right then and the only thing she cold hear was Matt.  Most of Busters following words were nothing more than a drone in the background.  She wasn’t really aware of much until,  Buster reached out and touched her arm. 

“Repeat after me.”  He said.  “That is, if ya don’t mind.”

Kitty blushed and glanced over at Buster with a slight grin.  “Yes, sir.”

“I. Kitty, do solemnly swear to take thee Matthew as my lawfully wedded husband…”

After the words had been spoken and the vows were repeated, Buster paused for a moment and looked down at the two people standing before him.  All that was left for him to do was pronounce them man and wife.  But he had one thing that he needed to say.  One thing, he wished he’d had said to him, on his wedding day.

“Now, afore I announce you two as wed, I got a little something I want to say to ya.  It’s something I knew, figure we all know, but we don’t much give it a great deal of thought.  But I want you to think about it and I want you to try and always remember it.”

Matt and Kitty tore their eyes away from each other and turned to Buster, interested in what he had to tell them. 

“Now, I know,” Buster continued, “that you two has been together for a while now.  You’ve been on the same road but I figure you weren’t always going in the same direction.  A few months ago, though, something bad happened.  Something that forced you two to head the same way and stick close together.” 

Matt gave Kitty a reassuring squeeze of the hand when he saw her expression.  He knew how painful the whole thing was for her.

Buster did too.  “Now, I sure am sorry for that bad stuff, but you two need to remember it.  You ain’t out of the woods yet and ya got a ways to go afore ya can settle yaselves down somewhere and call it home with no worries.  But as long as you two stick together, and as long as ya remember what’s important in life, you’ll be alright.  Don’t forget to love each other.  Don’t forget that the one beside ya is the most important thing in your life.  And don’t forget to stop ever so often and tell em so.  I don’t want you to maybe someday wake up and the other’un not be there and you be sorry that you didn’t tell em how much ya loved em.”

Kitty looked up into the clear blues eyes of the man she loved with tears slowing rolling down her cheek.  “I don’t want that either.”  She said.  “Oh, Matt, I do love you.”

Matt nodded.  “I love you too.”  He answered.

Buster nodded with a satisfied smile.  “Just remember to say that often, and you’ll be alright.”  Raising his head, he looked at the others in attendance.  “Well, if ain’t none of ya got any quarrel with it, then I now pronounce you, Man and Wife.  Mr. Dillon you may kiss yer bride.”

As their friends gathered around them, Matt and Kitty sealed their union with a kiss.

TBC


	32. Chapter 32

**The Rescue 32**

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Matt lay spooned around Kitty, his arm protectively across her waist.  She was asleep.  He wasn’t.  He couldn’t.  He had too much to think about for sleep to come.  Though he’d always considered Kitty to be his responsibility, she had become even more so the moment he had pulled her from that stage.  But now she was even more than that.  She was now his wife and soon to be the mother of his child.  And his desire, even more than that, his need, to protect her was even stronger.

As he lay there, he thought of that. 

His wife. 

He had never thought he wanted a wife.  Wives required more than he’d ever thought he had to give or ever wanted to give.  A married man couldn’t take off when he wanted or needed to without a moment’s notice.  A married man couldn’t go where he wanted and stay as long as he wanted with a wife at home waiting on him.

But as he thought about it, he realized that’s what Kitty had been doing since they’d come together. 

Wait. 

She’d never demanded marriage and had seldom asked for more than he was willing to give.  She had accepted him and his ways and tried to just enjoy what time they did have together.  She didn’t push him to be what he wasn’t and was simply happy to be with him.

Like now.

Their honeymoon, if you could call it that, was simply them returning to their borrowed sanctuary behind the trading post and spending two days alone with very little interaction with the other people there.

Though still occasionally plagued by morning sickness, Kitty had not allowed that to interfere with her time with her new husband and proved to Matt over and over, in deed and word, how much she loved him.  Matt for his part had taken great pains to be as gentle and loving as possible, doing everything he knew to make sure she knew what she meant to him.

He was aware that this brief time with her, happy and safe and carefree, would soon be over and the harsh realities of their circumstances would eventually come crashing back down on them.  But for now, he wanted her to feel safe and loved and know that no matter what, he would do whatever it took to protect her.

“You’re thinking awful hard there, Cowboy.”  Kitty said in the darkness.  “Must be something really important.”

“How long have you been awake?”  Matt asked startled that she wasn’t asleep as he had thought.

“A while now.”  She replied.  “I don’t sleep as heavily as you think.  What’s got you so upset?”

Matt pulled her closer and bent his head down, kissing her forehead.  “I’m not upset, Kitty.”  He didn’t want her to know his thoughts, didn’t want her worrying along with him.  “Go back to sleep, you need your rest.”

But Kitty knew him way too well.  “You’re worried about what happens now, aren’t you?”  She asked as she pulled away and turned to face him.  Big blue eyes studied his face in the soft glow of the waning firelight. 

Matt shook his head.  “We can’t stay here indefinitely, Kitty.”  He said reaching over to rub her bare shoulder.  “Depending on the weather, people are likely to start showing up here in a steady stream before too long.  People who just might have seen your picture on a wanted poster.”

“Then let’s go back to our cabin, Matt.”  She said.  “It might be a little slow going but we can make it.”

But Matt shook his head.  “Not right now, we couldn’t.  Honey, look outside.  The snows deep here, and probably even deeper up at the cabin.  If only I hadn’t been such a fool to take you away from there…”

“Matt,” Kitty’s voice was stern.  “If you had of done that, then we’d probably being starving right now for lack of food and we wouldn’t be married.”  She stopped when the thought struck her.  “Is that it, Matt?”  He didn’t answer right away which scared her.  “You really didn’t want to marry me?  Is that why…?”

“No.”  Matt grasped her arm and pulled her tightly against him.  “That is not it, Kitty.  I don’t think I ever realized how much I did want to marry you, until I saw Doc leading you to me.  I am happy about this, you have to believe that.  But you should also know that married or not, I love you.  I would do the same for you whether you carry my name or not.  I just keep thinking, though, that if I’d been more cautious, taken better care, than you wouldn’t have been shot by Hill, Brody wouldn’t be dead and we’d still stand a good chance of clearing your name and getting you home.”

Kitty reached out and tracing a finger down the side of his face.  “I am home.”  She said softly.  “Where ever you are is home.  It doesn’t matter if it’s Dodge or in the middle of nowhere, as long as I’m with you, its home.  Don’t you see that?  Home isn’t always a physical place.  Sometimes it’s simply an emotional place that you can reach and stay at, with the one you love.  And I do love you, Matthew Dillon.  I truly do love you.”

Matt bent down and captured her lips with his, deepening the kiss and pulling her closer.  “I love you too.”

As the two, once again, danced the age old dance of lovers in love, three men sat, some miles distant, in what passed for a saloon in Turtle Crick. 

“You still think they’re there?”  The short blond man with cold blue eyes and the constant, startled look, asked the man across from him.

“Well, if that station master is right,” the taller, thinner, dark haired man answered, “that’s about the only place Doc Adams could’ve gone to.  And I can just bet you if Adams went there, it was for Dillon.  Those two were thick as thieves.”  His dark brown eyes stared intently into the whiskey glass he held in his hand.  “I told Dillon he wasn’t above the law, but he wouldn’t listen.  He got by with Swarner but he won’t get by with this.”

The blond haired man exchanged looks with the third member of their party, a taller version of himself only with green eyes.  “Ak,” he said hesitantly, knowing how his friend hated being contradicted but feeling the need to say it anyway.  “We ain’t got no proof that it’s Dillon he went to, or that Dillon is with Kitty Russell. Everabody said he rode down south.  Besides, it weren’t Dillon that killed Pat Swarner.  Jud Sloan even swore to it.  Now, you know that.”

Ak Blint nodded his dark head in irritation.  “Yep, I know what Jud said, Harry, but I don’t believe it.  No more than I believe he went south.  He never would admit it, but he set a lot of store in that red head and he’d do anything to keep her from being hung.  Naw, he’s with her and Adams went to them.  And so are we as soon as this weather clears enough so we can.”

Tiller hung his head, saying nothing more.  He knew further talk was futile.  Once Ak made up his mind, he was implacable.  Didn’t make him right, just immoveable in his convictions.  And despite his often wished-for desire to break free of his stronger willed friend, he never could do it.  Tiller recognized the awful truth of his existence a long time ago.  He needed a leader and Ak Blint had become that leader.  He just hoped he didn’t lead him to his death.

The third man of the group, a somewhat grungy man named Clark Grafton, glanced at both of his traveling partners before standing and throwing a coin onto the table for his drink.  “Well, gentlemen, I see me a lady over there that looks about as bored as I am, so I figure to go over there and remedy both our situations.  See ya in the morning.”

Ak and Harry paid little heed to their new partner as he sauntered over to the bar and grabbed the nearest saloon girl by the waist, pulling her to him.  With a few whispered words, she looked up at him with a smile and willingly followed him across the dirty, smoke filled room to the small space she had upstairs.

As Grafton led the girl upstairs, his mind centered on another woman, possibly just a few miles away.  Though he didn’t know her, didn’t even know the man who supposedly was protecting her, he did know that a reward had been issued for both her and whoever was with her.  And he wanted that reward, no matter what it took and who he had to kill to get it.

TBC


	33. Chapter 33

**The Rescue 33**

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Kitty awoke nauseous and trembling again.  But it wasn’t morning sickness.  That had seemed to subside dramatically around the time of her wedding three weeks ago and had just about disappeared completely up until the last few days.  No, what ailed her now was, in a way, a lot more serious and a lot harder to treat. 

Kitty was having nightmares.  For the third night in a row she dreamed of a blond haired man that had come to hang her and kill Matt.  In each night’s disturbing vision, she would see the man approach, rope in one hand, gun in the other, with a maniacal grin on his face, his green eyes lit up as he told her of his plans.

“I’m gonna shoot and gut that man of yours,” he said night after night.  “And then I’m gonna string you up, kicking.  That brat you’re carrying won’t change what’s gonna happen to you.  It’s gonna go with ya.”  Each time he would say it, he would laugh.  And each time he laughed, she would awake, trembling and scared out of her mind, until she was reassured that it was only a dream and Matt was there beside her and her child was still living, safe inside of her.

“You okay?”  Matt asked as he sat up beside her and pulled her into his arms. 

Kitty nodded against his chest.  “I am now.”  She shivered. 

“Want to tell me about it?’  He asked, lightly stoking her back in a soothing circular manner.

For several moments Kitty kept still and quiet.  It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Matt enough to share her torment with him, but she wasn’t sure she trusted herself to keep from falling to pieces when she did.  Besides, she hated to add to his burdens.

But finally, taking a deep breath, she sat up and looked over at him.  “For the last three nights, I’ve been having a dream, a nightmare really, about a blond man.  He has a rope and a gun and he keeps saying he’s gonna kill us and our baby.  Matt, I… I couldn’t… if…  if he…” 

She did break down then into great heaving sobs and Matt knew the best thing he could for her right then, was to hold her and reassure her with his strong arms and kisses that she was safe and that he would do anything to keep her that way.  When she finally quieted into sniffles, he spoke quietly but assuredly.  “No one is gonna do anything to us, Kitty.  We’ve not come this far, to fail now.”

Kitty looked up at him, doubt clearly shining in her eyes.  “But, Matt, I’m a… they have a warrant against me.  They… if anyone finds us, they can hang me.  They can…”

“They cannot do anything that I don’t let them do.”  He answered a little gruffly.  “Honey, I know how precarious our position is, but I also know it’s not hopeless. Somehow, we will find a way to fix this.  You’ve just got to give it some time and trust that it’s gonna okay in the end.  I don’t know how, but it will.”

Kitty studied his face for a long time.  But she saw doubts there, despite his words.  However, she also saw determination and love and strength, all things she knew were needed to sustain them both. 

Suddenly a thought came to her and she sat up straighter.  “Matt, let’s leave here, today if possible or tomorrow.  Let’s go back to the cabin or south or west, I don’t care but let’s go.  Let’s…”

“Kitty,” Matt shook his head.  But she wouldn’t let him interrupt her.

“No, Matt. Listen to me.” She said with an urgent plea in her voice.  “Right now, I’m 6 months along but I’m still able to travel.  And although there’s still snow on the ground, it’s not as bad as it was since the weather cleared up last week.  If we leave soon we could get out of here and go someplace safe before it’s too late and I can’t travel.  Matt, please.”

Matt could tell how serious she was and he saw the fear in her eyes of remaining there any longer than necessary.  “Kitty, even though you think you can travel,” he started trying to reason with her, “I don’t think you realize how difficult travel this time of year is up here.  Even though the weather has cleared up, it’s still dangerous out there.”

“No more so than it is here.”  She said with a determined glint in her eye.  “I have no intentions of sitting here, Matt, and waiting for the next shoe to drop and the next Quaid Hill to show up looking to hang me.  Now, wedding ring or not, and snow or not, I’m going to leave here as soon as possible.  They probably still don’t know that you helped me so if you want to stay, you go ahead.  They won’t be able to do anything to you if I’m not with you.”

Matt heard the angered hurt in her voice and he realized she would do just as she said, regardless of whether he went with her not.  Still he had to try one more time.  “Honey, if it’s about that dream…”  He reached for her but she pulled away and got up from the bed.

“No, Matt!”  She said with a shake of her head.  “I mean yes, the dream is part of it.  But it’s not all of it.  Matt, I know you don’t believe me, but there’s something bad going to happen if we don’t leave here.  I can’t tell you how I know it, I just do.  We’re in danger here.”

With a deep sigh, Matt got up and crossed the chilly room to her side, bringing a blanket with him which he wrapped around her.  “I did not say I didn’t believe you.” He placed a finger under her chin and tilted her eyes up to meet his.  “And there is no way on earth, I would ever let you leave here without me beside you.  I just worry about you is all.  I don’t want something else to happen to you like it did on our way here.”

Kitty leaned into him, wrapping her arms around him.  “I don’t either, that’s why we have to go, Matt.  Please.  We have to.”

Matt sighed again and held her tightly.  “Alright.  We’ll go.  It’ll take me a day to get things arranged and we’ll need to calm Doc down cause you know he’ll fuss, but we’ll go.”

Kitty buried her head in his chest in relief.  “Thank you,” she breathed.  “Thank you.”

As the two held each other, neither one was aware of the three men just about to head their way.

“You’re sure this trading post is where that old man went?”  The three men had once again settled into the town’s only watering hole and Ak had shared with them what’d he’d been able to find out. 

Grafton studied him and his partner closely.  He didn’t want them with him and had no intentions what so ever of sharing the bounty money with them once he killed the red head and her man.  But until he knew what he was walking into and knew exactly where his quarry was, he needed the two misfits as back up.

“Of course, I’m sure.”  Ak Blint snapped until he saw the look in his unlikely companion’s eyes and looked away.  Ak Blint, though by no means the biggest, strongest, smartest or even bravest of men, had still always thought of himself as above the norm.  He certainly had his tag along friend Harry Tiller under his thumb. 

But men like Pat Swarner and Grafton were stronger than he was and he knew it.  These men were real leaders in his world and he knew he’d best not forget it if he wanted to live long.

Grafton looked around the saloon, hoping to spot the girl he’d spent several nights with, but she didn’t seem to be around.  If he’d cared to give it any thought, he might have realized she wasn’t there, because his last time with her had left her physically unable to work for a couple of days.  But even if he had of thought of it, it wouldn’t have mattered.  He wouldn’t have cared.

“Well,” Grafton pushed back from the table.  “I’m gonna go to my room and get some sleep.  I’m heading out at dawn in case you gentlemen would like to join me.  I figure to get there by dark tomorrow and stake my claim to a certain red headed murderer.”

Without a second’s thought, Blint and Tiller rose as one and followed Grafton from the saloon.

TBC


	34. Chapter 34

**The Rescue 34**

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Doc had, as expected, not been in agreement with Matt and Kitty’s plans and had stated so in no uncertain terms.  “You two are crazy.” He declared, taking an angry swipe of his mustache and even furiously tugging at his ear.  “Do you know what you’re doing?”

“We know, Doc.”  Kitty said in her most placating tone of voice.  “We also know that staying here any longer is too dangerous, not only for us but for everyone else here.  With the warmer weather, the trails up here will be easier to travel, which means people will be coming.  People who just might recognize one of us.”

“But, Kitty, in your condition…” He started to protest but she cut him off.

“My condition is part of the reason why we want to leave in the morning.  Doc, if I wait much longer, I won’t be able to travel and we’ll be sitting ducks.”  Kitty stepped over to him and placed her hands on his arms.  “Doc, please.  Please don’t make this any harder than it already is.”

Matt, who’d stood silently by for the most part, finally stepped up next to Kitty, placing a hand on her shoulder.  “I hate to admit it, Doc, and I felt the same way as you at first, but what she says makes sense.  We need to go as soon as we can.  Right now the weather is holding and the both of us are physically able to travel fairly quickly.”

Doc plowed his hands into his pockets with an exasperated shake of his head as he looked at the two people he cared most for in the world.  What they said did make sense, but it didn’t make him feel any better knowing they were leaving and he might never see them again, or the child he wanted so desperately to claim as his grandchild.  Then a thought hit him. “I’ll go with you.”  He suddenly declared.  “As accident prone as you two are, it might be best.”

But Matt, after a quick glance at Kitty to see her reaction, shook his head.  “You can’t, Doc.  We can’t let you.  You’ve already placed yourself in too much danger, as it is, for us.  You and Festus both.  From here on out it needs to be just us two.”

“But, Matt…”  Doc began, but Matt cut him off.

“No, Doc.  We have to go alone from here on in.  It’s the only way we stand a chance.”

Kitty lightly squeezed his arm.  “Please, Doc, please understand.  He’s right.  We have to do this alone.” 

“I’ll get a bag ready for you.”  Doc finally said with a sullen look.  “When that little one comes, there’s some things you’ll need.  I get them and I’ll also write you out a list of what you’ll need to do.  I doubt you’ll be anywhere there’s a doctor around.”

Kitty reached over and kissed him on the cheek.  “No matter where we go, Doc, you’ll always be with us.  Thank you for understanding.”

Doc shook his head in irritation.  “I didn’t say I understood, only that I’ll help you.”

Kitty looked up at Matt with a small smile and a wink.  “Oh, okay.”  She grinned at him.

Just like Doc, none of the others understood the couple’s desire to leave so suddenly, or their intent to go alone, but unlike Doc, they kept most of their arguments to themselves.  They doubted it would do much good and besides, they figured perhaps the former lawman just might know something they didn’t.

Festus, who had alone remained quiet on the subject, went about the day as though nothing was happening.  But he had no intentions of letting them go off on their own.  He had already promised Doc, privately, that they’d not leave without him along side them.  That fact alone was about the only reason Doc was managing to keep from arguing further on the subject.

The day was spent in preparation and expectation and resignation.  All at the trading post had become close and no one wanted to see Matt and Kitty leave, especially under the circumstances they faced.  But they understood and did their best to remain upbeat and not dwell on the danger the two faced alone.

Matt, noticing how quiet Festus was, took a moment to pull him aside for a quiet talk.  “I know what you’re thinking.”  He told his scruffy friend.  “But you’re not going with us, Festus.  From here on out it’s just me and her alone until that baby’s born.”

Festus squinted one eye at him.  “I ain’t said, I was a fixin’ on goin’ with ya, Matthew.” 

Matt grinned.  “You  _ain’t_  said you weren’t either.  Festus, believe me, I appreciate everything you’ve done for us.  But it’s time you stopped.  You don’t need to get in any deeper.  No one out of here knows you helped me and it’s best they don’t. Kitty and I have to do this alone.”   Matt watched his friends face for several seconds but Festus was hard to read.  “Well?”

“You got your plans, Matthew.”  Festus said cryptically.  “And I got mine.  I ain’t gonna stop you and Miss Kitty from havin’ or doin’ whatever you’ve a mind to, but I ain’t gonna let it stop me neither.”  Without another word, he turned and walked off.

“Stubborn, stubborn man.”  Matt shook his head.

Late that evening, after a hearty meal of venison roast prepared, for the last time, by Maizie and Kitty together, the adults sat around and talked, after sending Constance and Freddie to bed.

“I know you can’t tell us where you’re going.”  Percival spoke.  “But do you have any plans once you get to wherever it is?”

Matt shook his head.  “Truthfully, no.  Not long term plans anyway.  Our first objective is to get as far from here as we can before the baby is born.  Then we’ll find someplace safe to stay until Kitty and the baby can travel again and we’ll go from there.”

“If you’ll forgive me,” Percival wiped his mouth with his napkin and moved back a little in his chair.  “That does not sound like a well thought out plan.”

“Percival!” Maizie reprimanded her husband.

“No, he’s right, Maizie.”  Matt raised a hand.  “It doesn’t.  But right now it’s all I can tell you.  I do have some ideas of where to go and what we’ll do but I’m not going to tell you or anyone else.  The least you all know about us the better off you’ll be.  It’s safer for you all and us.”

All sat quiet for a moment, digesting that thought before Buster stood.  “Well, I’m gonna get me nip of that good corn I got and them I’m headin’ to my cot. Anybody want any?”

The men all accepted while Kitty and Maizie stood and began to clear the table.  “Kitty, leave that.”  Maizie admonished.  “You should be resting.  Tomorrow’s most likely going to be a long day.”

Kitty smiled.  “It probably will be, but even if I go to bed right this second, I doubt I’ll get any more rest.  There’s too much to think about.”

Maizie reached over and gave her friend a hug.  “I know there is and I know you’re worried.  I am too, so is everybody here. But you keep in mind that we’ll be keeping you in our prayers that the good Lord will keep watch over you and Matt.  You two are special.”

Kitty smiled but said nothing, for fear of crying.  She figured there’d be plenty of that when they left.   She just didn’t realize how soon that departure would be.

TBC


	35. Chapter 35

**The Rescue 35**

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They had all settled down for the night in their respective areas and most of the inhabitants of the trading post, cum hotel, were asleep.

Most, not all.

Despite her words to the contrary, Kitty had quickly drifted off to an exhausted, and so far, dreamless sleep.  But Matt was still awake.  He was worried.  For a reason he couldn’t explain, he was certain, as Kitty had been. that someone was on their way to them, someone not wanted.  And with each passing hour, he grew increasingly anxious for them to be up and out. 

But looking over at Kitty, he stilled his own anxiety in favor of granting her as much rest as she could get, knowing in the future it would be hard to come by.

“Matthew?”  Festus’ whisper came from the door.  “You still up?”

Matt carefully got up from the bed and crossed over to the door.  Opening it quietly, he slipped out of the room so as not to wake Kitty.  “What’s wrong?”  He asked as soon as he saw the look on Festus’ face.

“Wael, I ain’t actual shore they is anything wrong.”  Festus said.  “But I got me a feeling they’s someone outside there.  I done slipped down to the barn and got yours and Miss Kitty’s horses saddled and brought em around back there.  I also loaded some bags with supplies and tied em on the horses fer ya.  Now, I didn’t see nobody when I was outside, but that don’t mean they ain’t there. I figger you’all better git.  Now.”

But Matt had no intentions of leaving his friends there to fight what he considered his battle.  “Festus, I appreciate it, but we’re not just going to run out and leave you all here.  This is my fight.”

Festus shook his head.  “Matthew, that don’t make a lick of sense.  The way we all see it, Miss Kitty is your fight.  You got ta think of her first and take care of her.”  Festus was wringing his arms as he talked to emphasize his point.  “Now, you cain’t do that if’n ya git yerself kilt.  Don’t ya see? The only way to save her is to get her out of here.”

Matt took a deep breath and wearily rubbed the back of his neck.  He knew Festus was right.  He didn’t want to go like this, but he had to protect his wife and unborn child.  “Give us half an hour and we’ll be ready to go.”  He said quietly as a thought came to him.  “Can you do something else as well?”

“What’s that?”  His friend asked, eager to be of any help at all.

“See if you can do something to draw attention to the front, something to make them think we’re up there.  I doubt they know of this back here, but that might not stop them from going around the back and checking it out.  If you can get their attention up front, then we stand a good chance of getting away without being seen.”

“Will do er. Matthew.”  Festus said with a smile.  “You two just get yerselves ready.  I’ll get Doc and Buster and we’ll do the rest.”  Festus started to turn but stopped.  “Matthew.”  He said softly with a tinge of regret in his voice.  “I was a plannin’ on goin’ with you all when ya left.  I guess I cain’t now.”

Matt grasped him friend by the shoulder.  “Just like Doc, you’ll always be with us.  And when we find a place to stay permanently, we contact you.”

Festus nodded, blinking back a tear and disappeared back towards the front.  Matt went back into the room and over to the bed.  “Kitty, Kitty?”  He sat down on the side of the bed and gently shook her shoulder.

Kitty woke with a start and anxiously glanced around the room before settling her eyes back on Matt’s dark form on the bed beside her.  “Time to get up already?” She asked, glancing at the velvet darkness still outside the window.

“I’m afraid so.”  Matt said.  He didn’t want to tell her but he knew he had to.  “We’re not sure, but we think we have some visitors.”

Kitty sat straight up at that and reached for Matt’s hand.  “Here for us?”

Matt shrugged.  “I don’t know, but coming in at this time a night, it could be.  Now, Festus and the others are going to set up a distraction up front to get our visitor’s attention, while you and I go out the back.  Festus has already saddled our horses and packed our bags. We just need to get dressed and go.”

Kitty nodded as she pushed the covers off of her and got to her feet, her heart in her throat at what could possibly happen, if she and Matt were caught trying to get away.

When Festus returned to the front of the building, he found Buster, Doc and Percival already up and dressed, each with a weapon in their hands.  At his look of surprise, Buster grinned.  “You thought you was the only one that heard them out there?  I figured we’d all best get up and get ready to make a fight of it.”

Festus smiled at the older man who’d become almost as dear to him as Doc was.  But he shook his head.  “They ain’t no need a fighting, if’n we ain’t got to.”  He said.  “I already done got Matthew up.  Him and Miss Kitty is gonna slip out the back and take off.  All we got to do is get the attention of them yahoo’s outside there so’s they can.”

“Well, how?’  Doc said.  “I doubt they’re stupid enough to just walk in here, even if we were to give them an engraved invitation.”

“Well, maybe not engraved…’ Percival spoke up as he looked around the room.  “But I think I know how to get them to come right in that door.”

Doc crinkled his brow.  “How?”

Percival grinned.  “Help me and I’ll show you.”

Fifteen minutes later, the men stood back and looked at their handiwork, glancing at each other with a grin. 

“Bout ready?”  Festus asked.

Percival smiled.  “Yep.”

Quickly Festus, Percival and Buster ran to the backside of the counter and knelt down.  Doc, being the shortest of the three, moved to the end of the counter and quickly wrapped a shawl around his shoulders and head, doing his best to make his shadow look like that of a woman.  Lighting a match to the lamp at the end of the worktop, he slowly made his way towards the front of the building and sat down on a chair they had brought from the dining area.

Outside three men saw what looked like a woman in the front of the building sitting down in front of the fire, with a shawl wrapped around her.

“Ya figure that’s her?”  Harry Tiller asked, his voice going up an octave to reveal his nervousness.  

“Could be.” Grafton stroked his chin thoughtfully.  “You sure that fool in town didn’t know nothing else about who was up here?”  He looked over at Blint.

The dark haired coward shrugged.  “He had no idea.  He didn’t even know for sure that Doc Adams had come up here, just thought it likely as this was the only other place to go for miles.  He did say though that the man that owns this place was a widower.  So if there is a woman up here, it could most likely be her.”

As the three stood and watched the shadowy figure in the front of the building, Matt and Kitty swiftly donned their clothes and carefully eased their way out the back.  After helping Kitty up onto her horse, Matt hurriedly mounted his own and turned the animals to the west.  He had no idea where they should go, but direction at that point didn’t matter.  Speed in getting away, did.

Kitty turned her head to take one last look at the building that had, for a brief period of time, been her home, much as the cabin had been.  But like the cabin, she had a feeling she would never see it, or anyone from it, ever again.

TBC


	36. Chapter 36

**The Rescue 36**

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Though the weather had warmed in the past few days, it was still frigidly cold in the late night air and Kitty shivered but she maintained her silence.  She was determined not to complain of anything.

Several times, Matt looked back at her.  “You alright?”  He asked.

Kitty consistently nodded each time.  “I’m fine.”

Looking at her, Matt knew better, but he also knew there wasn’t much he could do about it right then, other than get them both as far from the trading post as fast as possible.  He toyed with the idea of heading back up to the cabin, but the trail up there would most likely be treacherous and snow laden. 

He’d never been much further west then they currently were so he had no real idea where they might find a safe haven in that direction.  But he did know people down south.  People that just might be willing to assist them, regardless of their status of outlaws.

“Hang in there, Honey.” He looked back at her once again.  “I’ve got an idea where we can go, for at least a while.”

“I’m fine.” Kitty repeated, not sure if she was reassuring him or herself.

Back at the trading post, Blint, Tiller and Grafton were silently watching the figure in the front window.  It looked like a woman sitting by the fire, perhaps doing needlework or something.  But it was too dark to be certain.  “Ak, you and Harry sneak up to that window and look in.” Grafton ordered.  His voice letting them know he would brook no argument.  “It’s too dark to see who that is from here.”

Ak wanted to protest but he had not the courage to do so.  “Come on, Harry.” He pulled on his cohort's sleeve and moved forward.  They didn’t think this was a set up but the thought that it might be, made them move carefully and quietly.  Once to the window, they cautiously crept up just enough to look in. 

The person in the chair was sitting quietly, with a blanket over their lap and a shawl over their head.  There was very little to indicate whether the person was even female, much less the female they wanted.  That was until Harry paid closer attention to the shawl covered head.  Just on the fringe, near the figure’s neck line was a flash of red. Though the dim lamp light could illuminate little, it was bright enough for Harry and then Ak to see that.

Ak stepped over to the door and quietly tried the knob.  It turned easily.  “This far up and this time of year, they probably don’t expect anybody to come so they didn’t lock the door.”  Ak whispered to Harry.  Go back and tell Grafton it’s her.  And hurry.”

Running in a crouch, Harry made his way back to Grafton.  “It’s her.” He said excitedly.  “She’s got a shawl on, but we saw her hair.  It’s her.  And the front door ain’t locked.  We can walk right in.”

Grafton stood thoughtfully for a second.  “Alright,” he looked back over at Harry.  “You go on back up there.  You and Ak get in front of the door and bust in shooting.  If there’s anyone in there with her, you’ll get them before they can get you.  If she’s alone, the shots will warn everybody to stay out of it.”

“What about you?”  Harry cast him a suspicious look.

“I’ll be right beside you.”  He slapped the shorter man on the shoulder.  “I’ll probably go in through the window to get their attention while you two go in through the door.”

Eagerly Harry nodded and started forward but stopped when he realized Grafton hadn’t moved.  “What’s wrong?’

“Go on!”  Grafton demanded.  “I’m coming.”

Harry nodded uncertainly, turned and headed back to Ak’s side.  Hurriedly whispering instructions he glanced back behind his shoulder to see Grafton coming forward as he’d promised.  With a sigh of relief, both men moved to the door, pulled their guns, turned the knob and threw themselves into the room, firing as they entered.

Instantly, the three men behind the counter rose and began firing.  Harry went down without a sigh.  Ak, though immediately wounded, wasn’t quite finished.  When he fell to the floor, he rolled to his side, aiming his gun at the figure still sitting in the chair by the fire. 

Festus saw the motion and shouted.  “Get down, Doc.”  His yell startled Ak and he turned his gun instantly upon the sound and fired, hitting Festus in the upper chest.  Percival swiftly raised his rifle and fired upon Ak, putting his lights out for good. 

When Doc finally got out of the chair he’d been trapped in, because the shawl had caught on the arm, he ran over to Festus, and gently turned him over.  He was still alive but seriously wounded. Barking out orders he arranged to have his friend moved to a bed where he could work on him and hopefully save his life.

While he was working on Festus, with Maizie’s help, Percival and Buster took care of Ak and Harry.  None of them knew about the third man who’d veered off to the left when he was sure Ak and Harry would work as effective distractions.  He had a feeling it was a setup, seeing someone in the window, and he wasn’t about to get caught up in it.

Racing around the side of the building, he slowed his steps when he was sure he was out of sight.  The moon was full and bright and he had no trouble seeing the ground around him.  He wasn’t sure why, but he had a feeling his birds had already flown the coop and were getting away while he and his now dead companions were dickering around out front.

Carefully scanning the ground as he walked, he found what he was looking for, behind the building.  Cut deep into the snow covered ground, two sets of horse tracks led west as clearly as any sign post.  “Thought so.”  He grinned. 

Retracing his steps back around to the front.  He cautiously made his way to the tree line where they’d stowed their horses and untied them from the tree limb they’d been tethered to.  Initially he thought to take Ak and Harry’s horse with him as backups, but he figured they would slow him down.  Letting go of their reins, he hastily mounted his own horse and, skirting the trading post building, made his way back to the tracks he’d found and rode.

Smiling as he picked up speed, he imagined what he was going to do with the reward money he was soon to collect and the red head, he was soon to take.

TBC


	37. Chapter 37

**The Rescue 37**

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Matt anxiously glanced back yet again at Kitty.  Though stoically riding along without complaint, he could tell she was about done in.  She was not going to be able to ride much further. 

They had traveled the night through and most of the morning, going ever south west taking a brief break here and there but not stopping for any long period of time.  His neck and shoulders were stiff from hunching over his horse to ward off the cold and his hands and feet were getting close to numb.  He knew Kitty was in probably even worse shape.

Keenly, he scanned the surrounding countryside as they rode, praying for some sort of shelter where they could get out of the cold wind and get at least a few hours of rest before having to press on. 

Another mile further on, he found what he was looking for.

“Hang on, honey.”  He told her, as he slowed his mount to match the stride of hers.  “There’s a town up ahead. Maybe we can find a place there to get in out of the cold for a little while anyway.”

Kitty looked fearfully ahead.  “Do you think it’s safe?  I mean whoever the law is here may have a poster on me by now.”

Matt considered that for a second before nodding and bending over slightly to get into his saddle bag.  “I’ll think it’ll be fine, as long as you don’t mind being my prisoner for a day or so.”

A slight smile graced Kitty’s face as she looked lovingly over at him.  “I’ve been your prisoner in one way or another since I met you, Matt Dillon.”

With a return grin, Matt took the badge he’d kept, despite his resignation, and pinned it in its familiar place on his chest.

Kitty watched him pin it on and then looked up at him curiously.  “I thought you resigned and turned that in?”

“I did resign,” Matt answered.  “But I held onto this.  You never know when it might come in handy.  I figure no one here will likely know that that I’m no longer a Marshal and I don’t see why we need to tell them.  Do you?”

“No.”  Her smiled returned.  “I guess I don’t.  Take me on, Marshal.  Your prisoner is ready to get inside someplace warm.”

Matt’s grin broadened a little as he reached over and took the reins to her horse and placed a warm kiss on her lips.  “Yes, Ma’am.”   Turning, he kicked his horse back into a walk and they moved on towards the small hamlet. 

Back at the trading post, Doc sat wearily in a chair beside the bed where Festus was laying.  He’d removed the bullet and gotten the bleeding stopped.  Though his friend’s temperature was elevated, it wasn’t dangerously so. Doc had pretty good feeling that Festus would make it.  He just hoped the same for Matt and Kitty.

Buster and Percival had carried Ak and Harry out of the trading post and back to the same area where Quaid Hill, Seth Brody and Hill’s men were now residing.  Cash had been buried in another place on the property at Buster’s request.  He didn’t want his friend associated, even after death, with the likes of Hill and his men.

The ground was too frozen to dig a grave, but the men found enough rocks to do the job and Buster declared he would check on the graves later in the year to make sure they weren’t disturbed.    As Buster and Percival trudged exhaustedly back towards the building, Buster suddenly gave out a small cry of alarm.  “Look there!”  He pointed at the heavy tracks made in the snow.

Percival walked over, bent down and looked but stood with a shrug.  “Just the tracks Matt and Kitty made last night when they left.”

Buster shook his head.  “Yeah, but there’s another set there too.  Look.”  He pointed to another set of markings, not as deep, following the first group.  “Somebody followed them out of here.”

Percival shared an uneasy look with the trading post owner as he ran a hand through his rapidly graying hair.  Looking back towards the building and then back down at the tracks, he made a decision.  “Let’s not tell Doc Adams or Festus.” He told Buster.  “There’s nothing any of us can do, if someone did follow them, it would only serve to worry those two more than they already are.”

Buster swallowed hard, but nodded.  “Probably right.”  He acknowledged.  “Where ever our friends are, they’s in God’s hands now.  All we can do is keep em in prayer, anyways.  And I figure Doc is a doin’ that as we speak.”

As the two men tramped back through the snow to the warmth of the trading post, Clark Grafton walked frozen and furious still following the horse tracks.  While following the trail left by his prey in their escape, Grafton had paid little attention to much besides the tracks which would lead him to his bounty.  That unfortunately proved to be a disastrous thing for him to do as, head down; he didn’t see the low hanging branch, his horse had ridden under.

In one fell swoop he was knocked backwards from the saddle and onto the frozen ground below as his horse continued on without him.  Rising quickly to his feet, he ran after the animal only to slip on the ice beneath his feet, resulting in his taking a tumble down a small slope to his left.  Tumbling head over heels, he landed with a crash against a tree, jarring his back and twisting his ankle.  When he was finally able to stand, he pulled himself up, climbed back to the well-worn trail and set off on foot.

His head hurt, his back and ankle pained him tremendously but he refused to give into it.  A sizeable reward had been offered for Kitty Russell and the man, or men, who were with her.  He wanted that reward and he was bound and determined to get it.  No matter what he had to do.

TBC


	38. Chapter 38

**The Rescue 38**

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As the Marshal and his prisoner rode into the small, sleepy little village of Cardinal, Colorado they were acutely aware of the curious eyes that followed their progress down the short narrow dirt path that passed as Main Street.  Spying no jail, Matt breathed a little easier and steered their horses over to the small building with the big sign declaring it to be ‘O’Bryan’s General Store.’

As soon as he dismounted, Matt made his way around to Kitty and easily lifted her off her horse and to the ground.  Even at six months pregnant, she was still awfully small and barely showing.  “I don’t see a jail, which means no regular lawman.”  He whispered to her as helped her down.  “We may not need this badge after all, so let’s not say anything unless we have to.”

Kitty nodded, as she followed Matt into the warmth of the small mercantile. 

“Hello there.” A rich Irish brogue greeted them as they walked in the door.  “How may I help you?”

“How do,” Matt answered with a quick dip of his head.  “I was wondering if there’s a place in town here where we could put up for a day or two.  Traveling is kind of bad right now, and she could really use some rest.”  He jerked a thumb towards the red head practically hiding behind him.

The man peered around at the slight framed woman in the too big coat and pants.  “Hard ridin’ for a woman.” He remarked.

“Yes, it is.”  Matt agreed.  “All the more reason to find a place to let her rest.”

“Well,” the man shook his head.  “We don’t have a regular hotel here.  As a matter of fact we don’t have too much at all here that’s regular.  Don’t have much call for it.  Let’s see…”

As he stroked his chin in thought, Matt felt a tug on his coat sleeve. Turning, he saw Kitty slightly swaying behind him. 

“Matt,” she said urgently.  “I need to sit down.”  Her grip of his arm tightened for a second then she released him as her eyes rolled back into her head and she slipped towards the floor.

Matt quickly grabbed her and picked her up, cradling her against his chest.  “Is there at least a place where I can lay her down for a while?”  He asked, scared of what could be wrong and berating himself for not letting her rest before now.

“Come this way.”  The man said quickly as he hurried towards the back of the store and led the way up a flight of stairs to the floor above.  “In here.” He said, opening a door to a small sparsely furnished bedroom.

Matt crossed the room and laid her gently on the bed.  “Ki…” He halted in calling her name, deeming it unwise, regardless of the circumstances.  Instead, he anxiously grabbed her hand between the both of his and rubbed it tenderly.

“I will get some water.”  The man said as he turned for the door.

Matt paid him little mind as he concentrated on his wife.  Only when he heard the door close behind him did he utter her name.  “Kitty, sweetheart, can you hear me?”

Kitty swallowed hard and opened her eyes, unable to focus for a moment.  Finally her eyes locked on Matt and she tried to sit up.  “Matt?”  She looked around the small room she found herself in and then back at Matt.

“It’s alright, Kitty.”  He told her, as he ran a hand across her forehead and smoothed back her hair.  “Don’t get up, honey.  Just lay back there.  You fainted.”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I just suddenly felt faint.  I didn’t mean to…’

“Of course you didn’t.” An Iris female voice sounded from behind them. 

Looking behind him, Matt saw a petite lady with deep green eyes and dark auburn hair approach the bed with a basin of water and a towel across her arm.  “Me husband said you fainted.” She remarked as she looked down at Kitty.

Kitty nodded.  “I guess I did.  But I’m fine now.”  Once again she tried to rise only to have both Matt and the woman, both, push her back down. 

“You need rest and some good nourishin’ food, me girl.” The woman’s face was kind and her words kinder still. She looked up at Matt.  “Me names Maura O’Bryan.  James said you two are needin’ a place to stay.”

Matt nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.  Even more so now.” He looked meaningfully over at Kitty.

“Well, you’ve found it.”  Maura said.  “This wee girl needs rest and you won’t be getting’ it a ridin’ around the countryside.”

“We don’t want to put you all out, Ma’am.”  Matt spoke up.  “But if you have the room to spare, we’d be glad to rent it from you for a couple of days.”

Maura gave him a disapproving glance.  “I don’t run a hotel, Mr…”

“Adams.”  Matt answered with the first name that came to mind.  “Russell Adams.”  He gave a quick wink to Kitty for borrowing her former last name.

“Adams.” Maura repeated.  “No, I don’t let rooms at all, but I’m not about to let you take your wife back out into that cold.”

“Oh, I’m not his wife.” Kitty suddenly protested.  “I’m his prisoner.”

Matt gave her a startled glance as Maura looked at Kitty and then scowled up at Matt.  “You took this poor lass across the barren wastes of this country to her certain ruination all because of that small piece of tin on your chest?”  With each word, Maura’s voice rose and her accent thickened.  “Faith and begorra.  What were ya thinkin’, man?”

“Ma’am.” Matt tried to defend himself.  “I… I have a job to do.  It’s my duty to…”

“Your duty?”  Maura seemed to grow even angrier.  “This child’s not well, no matter what your duty says about it.”

Matt, red-faced and flummoxed, was at a loss for words.  He had no idea why Kitty would’ve told the woman that rather the much more convenient truth.

Maura rose from the bed and started towards the door with a “HMMPH” of irritation.  “I’m going to get this lass some decent clothes and some food.  You are going to allow her time to rest.  Do ya hear me?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”  Matt answered, properly chastised.

“Well, come on then.” Maura held the door open.

“Uh, no, Ma’am.”  Matt protested.  “You see, her being my prisoner, I need to stay here and watch over her. Make sure she doesn’t get away.”  He looked back over at the merriment on Kitty’s face.

“And just where do ya suppose she’d be getting’ off to, Mr. Adams?”  Maura arched a brow at him.  “She’s a wee one but she’s not small enough to get through key holes or fly out the window like some bird.”

“Uh, no, Ma’am.”  Matt agreed.  “But still…”

“But still what?”  She demanded as her eyes narrowed in irritation.

“Mrs. O’Bryan.”  Kitty finally pushed down her amusement at the predicament; she’d inadvertently placed Matt in, and found her voice.  “It’s alright.  Honest. He’s been a perfect gentleman to me.  He has to stay with me until he gets me to where we’re going.  He won’t hurt me.”

Narrowing her eyes even further, Maura gave Matt one more suspicious scowl before turning.  “Well, alright, if you say so.” She started to turn for the door but gave Matt one last stern look.  “But mind ya, now.  I’ll not have any dallying here.  Just because she’s your prisoner, doesn’t mean ya can take advantage of her.  Do you mind me words?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”  Matt nodded again, keeping his expression as neutral as possible.

“Good.”  Maura finally opened the door and stepped out, closing it firmly behind her, never seeing Kitty place her hand across her mouth to keep her giggling from being heard.

Matt took a deep breath and looked down at the highly amused face of his wife.  “What’d you do that for?”  He demanded in a whisper.  “It’d been a whole easier for both of us if she knew we were married.”

Kitty finally managed to quit laughing and looked up into the very serious face of her husband.  “I’m sorry, Matt. But don’t you see, it’s safer this way.  Anyone looking for us will be looking for a man and his woman.  Not a Marshal and his prisoner.  Besides, you taking me cross country to a jail cell makes sense and is easier to explain then us running from the law.”

Matt wearily scrubbed his face with a nod.  “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”  He sat down on the bed beside her.  “But I sure don’t like the idea of not being able to stay with you at night.  And I can guarantee Maura O’Bryan won’t like it if I do.”

Kitty grinned and sat up a bit to kiss him.  “I know.” She said, wrapping her arms around him.  “But we’ll only be here for a couple of days.  We can hold out that long.”

Matt returned her kiss with interest, holding her tightly for a moment before releasing her.  “I sure hope so.”  He said.

TBC


	39. Chapter 39

**The Rescue 39**

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Clark Grafton had never believed in luck or fate or anything else of that nature.  He firmly believed the only luck a person had was what they made their self and no person or spirit or anything else could control your fate unless you allowed them to.  However, Clark was beginning to question his beliefs as one thing after another went wrong.

From the large lump on his forehead from the tree branch, the loss of his horse, his tumble down the hill and its resultant injuries to the now useless gun he held in his hand thanks to a broken firing pin, Grafton was beginning to believe that someone, or something, had it out for him.

But he wasn’t about to quit yet.  A five thousand dollar reward had been placed on the head of the saloon woman known as Kitty Russell and he wanted it.  After seeing the poster of her, he realized he wanted her too.  But he first had to find her and so far his attempts in that area had failed miserably.

Tossing the worthless weapon as far as he could, he straightened his back and started once again on the trail he’d been following.  He may not be lucky, he thought ruefully, but he was persistent and a lot of times that made the difference.

Grafton wasn’t the only person to wonder about his luck.  

Matt was pretty much feeling the same way.  Though, thanks to the badge, he’d pinned back on, Maura and James O’Bryan weren’t able to keep him from Kitty, he’d not been having a great deal of luck in getting her out of their home.  Ever since Maura had discovered that Kitty was expecting.

Kitty had spent that first night sleeping in her shirt.  But Maura refused to allow her to go any longer without proper clothes.

Because Kitty was taller than Maura, she’d had no clothes of her own with which to loan the stricken red head but she did have a store down below with what she needed.  In no time, she had descended to the business below, picked up what she needed and came back to help her, shooing Matt out of the room.

“I suppose I understand the men things.” She’d said as she handed Kitty the gown and undergarments she had returned with.  “Tis a bit hard to go ridin’ in a dress.  But still lass…”

“Kathleen.”  Kitty spoke up, truthfully.  “My name is Kathleen.”

“Ahhhh…” Maura exclaimed with a twinkle in her eye.  “With your red hair all a shining and the blue of your eyes, I thought ya might have a touch of the Irish in ya.  Your name now proves it.”

Kitty smiled, not sure what her ancestry had to do with anything.  “Well, my father was of Irish descent.”  She said as she unsteadily got to her feet in order to change, forgetting for just a second what her baggy men’s clothes had been hiding.

As Maura reached to help Kitty with her shirt, her eye dropped to Kitty’s middle and she gasped.  “Oh, Good Lord.”  She exclaimed.  “You’re with child.”

Kitty closed her eyes and swallowed hard.  She hadn’t thought.  Nodding, she looked back at the kind stranger who’d taken her into her home and quickly slipped on the gown.  “Yes.” She answered, having no other words for the moment.

Maura stood wisely watching the younger woman for a second before nodding her head and returning to her assistance in getting her dressed.  “Tis his, isn’t it?”  Her question really needed no answer.  She’d seen the looks exchanged by the two and had no doubts the tall man and his prisoner were much more than that to each other.

Kitty decided honesty, or at least partial honesty, would probably be the best policy in this case.  “Yes.” She said again.  “We… we have been together for a long time.’

“And he’s takin’ ya to prison?”  Maura’s eyebrow shot to her hairline and her face flushed in anger.

“No, Ma’am.”  Matt spoke as he walked in the room just then, followed by Maura’s husband James.  “I’m trying to keep her out of prison, Ma’am.  Or worse.”

“I was goin’ through the mail this mornin’ and found a poster.” James said as they entered.  “I didn’t know if the Marshal had seen it or not.”

Stepping over to Kitty, Matt handed her a wanted poster with her name on it and $5000 bounty.  “I hadn’t.”  Matt stated grimly.

For the second time in two days, Kitty felt faint and Matt quickly slipped an arm around her and lowered her to the bed. “Come on, honey.  You need to lay back down.”

Maura picked up the wanted poster that Kitty had dropped in her swoon and scanned its surface.  “Tis it true?” She asked looking straight at Matt.

“No, Ma’am.”  Matt answered.  “She didn’t kill anyone.  She was framed but the man who did it, is dead.  If she’s taken in…”

“Then she won’t.”  Maura said firmly, quickly tearing the poster in half.  “You two will stay right here and…”

“No.”  Kitty sat up, grabbing Matt’s arm for support.  “There’s already been two attempts on capturing me and some people died in those attempts.  I won’t let that happen to anyone else.  If you will allow us to stay here tonight, we’ll leave in the morning.  It’s not safe for you all or anyone else to have us around.”

“She’s right, Ma’am.”  Matt took her hand and clasped it tightly in his own.  “We won’t be able to stay past tomorrow morning.  But we’ll be alright.  As Marshal…”

“Non-sense.”  Maura sternly cut him off.  “I don’t care if ye be a Marshal or a god, Mr. Adams.  Ye’ll not be takin’ her from here.  Did ya know she’s with child?”

Matt’s eyes widened as he looked over at Kitty who helplessly shrugged.  Dropping his head, he nodded.  “Yes, Ma’am.  I know.  And it’s partly because of our baby that I’ve to get her out of here.  We can’t stay in any one place for too long without risk of someone finding us.  Like she said, it’s not safe.”

“But to be on a horse…” Maura clucked her tongue, with a shake of her head as she looked over at her husband.

James O’Bryan had been married to Maura for nearly thirty years and his blue eyes had been able to read her green ones for nearly as long.  With a scratch of thick gray hair and a pull at his beard, he nodded at his wife with a smile.  “Aye, Maura.  I’ll see to it.”

Matt and Kitty exchanged puzzled glances before looking back at the older couple.  “See to what?”  Matt questioned.

“We have two carts, Mr. Adams.”  James answered.  “One is a bit small but it’ll handle the trail right enough and be easier on the lass there than a horse.  I’ll have it ready for you at daybreak.”

Stunned, the Dodge City couple looked at their benefactors in shock.  “But you don’t know us.”  Kitty protested. “You don’t…”

“We know good people when we see them, child.”  Maura answered.  “Hateful words on a poster can’t hide that. Now there’s no more to be said about it.  Tonight I’ll fix ya a decent meal and tomorrow ye’ll take off in a decent cart.  Do ya understand, Mr. Adams?”

“Dillon, Ma’am.”  Matt spoke up.  “My name is Matt Dillon and this is my wife, Kitty Dillon.  And yes, we understand.”

“Good.”  Maura said with a satisfied smile.

TBC


	40. Chapter 40

**The Rescue 40**

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Kitty looked back and waved one more time at Maura and James O’Bryan before she steered the small cart they’d given her and Matt around a bend in the road and out of sight.  Looking up at Matt, riding beside her, she grinned.  “We must be living right, Cowboy.”  She remarked.

“What do you mean?”  Matt asked curiously. 

Kitty flicked the reins in her hands and with a thoughtful look.  “Well, we just seem to keep running into good people willing to help us even though they don’t know us.  Buster, the Atkins, the O’Bryan’s.  They helped us, Matt. But none of them really knew us.”

Matt shrugged.  “There are more good people in this world than bad, Kitty.  It’s just that, until this all happened, our lives and our jobs seemed to bring us into contact with more of the bad.  If this whole mess has any silver lining, I guess it’s that we’re now getting to see the good people in the world.”

Kitty looked up at him with a smile as she caressed her stomach for a moment.  “That’s not the only silver lining.” She said.  “I know our timing isn’t exactly perfect but I’m not sorry for this.”

Matt nodded.  “Me neither.  I’m not sorry for the baby or us marrying or even giving up the badge.  I never realized how limited our lives were back in Dodge.  But things are different now.  And I plan on keeping us alive long enough to enjoy that.”

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Clark Grafton had finally made it to the bustling metropolis of Cardinal, Colorado.  With each day, the weather had warmed a little more and the snow had largely melted this far south of where the trading post was. But the traveling on foot had still been tiring and he was glad to see a town, any town.

The small village with a lone general store which doubled as the post office and the offices of Mayor and Post Master - James O’Bryan himself – a feed and fuel, a stable and a small café, didn’t look like much, but then Grafton didn’t intend to stay. 

Foot sore, back aching and temper worsening with each painful step, Grafton was looking to get himself a horse, some food and a gun, so that he could continue in his quest for his bounty.  Spotting the small café, he chose that as his first destination and limped over and into the warm room, finding a table near the back.

The waiter appeared immediately with a coffee pot and a menu.  “Well, what can I get for you this bright and sunny morning, Stranger?”  The affable and somewhat overweight man with the handlebar mustache asked him.

Grafton returned the smile with a glare.  “Give me a steak, two eggs and some biscuits.” He practically snarled at the man, who, recognizing a sour mood, quickly disappeared into the kitchen.

Once his meal arrived, Grafton sat eating as quickly as he could, not wanting to waste time.  He paid little heed to the people around him and might not have heard the next piece of conversation had it not taken place so close to his table.

“Well, morning, Mr. O’Bryan.”  The waiter greeted the store owner enthusiastically. “What can I get for ya?”

“Just coffee and some biscuits, Mike.”  James O’Bryan returned the smile.  “Maura’s a good cook, but she can’t make biscuits worth a darn.”

“I understand.”  Mike said as he poured the coffee.  “Saw your visitors left early this morning.”  He remarked. 

James looked up at him, a little startled.  “Uh, yeah.”  He said, noting the stranger at the next table.  “Uh, Mike, could ya be getting me biscuits please.  I’m a bit pressed for time.”

“Oh, sure.”  Mike said.  “I was just thinking that little red head sure didn’t look like she should be traveling.  She looked kinda puny, you ask me.  But of course since she was riding in that cart and the trail going south ain’t too bad, she’ll probably okay.”

“Well, I didn’t ask you.”  James snapped.  “Now please, Mike.  Can ya get me biscuits?”

Though Mike didn’t understand James’ discomfort with the conversation, he understood the tone and quickly turned and headed to kitchen. 

James cast a sideways glance at the bedraggled stranger to gauge in his interest.  The man hadn’t seemed to notice what had been said. 

With a small sigh of relief, James made a mental note to apologize to Mike later for snapping at him.  But he didn’t want anyone to know about the young couple he and Maura had helped, especially a man who looked like this stranger did.

Grafton finished his breakfast and ordered another cup of coffee and two more biscuits.  His appetite was good now, as was his mood.  He’d heard just enough to know what his next moves would be.  Paying for his meal, he stood up and walked out of the café, his physical discomforts forgotten.

His first stop was the general store.  Maura was behind the counter.  “Morning.” He greeted her genially as he walked in.

“Good Morning.”  Maura did not return the smile.  Something about the man grated on her, the moment she saw him.  “Can I help you?”  She was never the less polite.

“Well, yes, Ma’am.”  Grafton answered.  “I’m needing some supplies and a gun.”

Maura looked at him a little speculatively.   “A gun?” She questioned.  “For what would ya be needin’ a gun?”

“Well, you see.” He gave her his best smile.  “I lost my horse and all my gear, along with my gun, a while back and I’ve been on foot ever since.  I don’t mind walking too much, but I sure don’t like the idea of being out there on the trail with no food and nothing to defend myself.”

Maura wasn’t sure of this man and certainly didn’t like his looks, but she was in business to sell her goods.  And as long as the man had the price she would sell to him.

A half hour later, Grafton walked from the store with a new gun and holster on his hip and a small bag of provisions in his hand.  The purchases had taken most of his money, but he wasn’t too concerned about that. He’d find a way to get more.  Making his way down to the stable, he talked to the stable master about buying a horse. 

But Moses Dilby shook his gray head regretfully.  “Sorry, mister.  I only got three and they’re not for sale.  I need them for renting out.”

Grafton studied the man for a moment.  “Alright,” he said with a sigh. “I’ll rent one from you.”

But again Moses shook his head.  “I make it a practice not to rent to nobody I don’t know.”  He said firmly.

Grafton’s eyes narrowed as he glared at the man and then took a careful look around.  He saw no one. Bending down slightly, he reached in his boot for the knife he kept there and with little fanfare, plunged it into Moses’ chest, catching him as he fell.  Taking another swift look around, he dragged the dead man into the stable, laid him in a stall and covered him over with hay, after combing his pockets and removing what little money he found there.

When he stood back up, he spied a black gelding in the stall next to him that looked pretty good.  It took him no time to saddle the animal and lead it out of the stable to the woods where he turned and headed south.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Sam leaned wearily against the polished mahogany top of the bar and looked around at the noon day crowd. Though busy for that time of day, the men who’d stopped in for a drink or a game of cards or a flirtation with a pretty girl were fairly subdued.  Henry, the piano player he’d hired, was sitting at the instrument cranking out one tune after another to the lack luster crowd but few people were paying attention.

Reaching into his vest pocket, he once again pulled out the wire he’d just received that morning.  It was from Doc. Though the words were brief it spoke volumes to the craggy faced bartender and made his day a little brighter.

“Found treasure.”  It stated.  “Bound together and safe.  Be home soon.”  Sam wasn’t sure but he had an idea what ‘bound together’ meant and his heart soared at the thought.  Of course he knew the chances of him ever seeing either one of them again was nearly zero, it mattered not to the man that cared so much about them. They were safe and together.  He was satisfied. 

That was until US Marshal Clay Turner came in and sauntered over to the bar.  “Afternoon, Sam.”  The older man with the punch and thinning light brown hair smiled at him.  “Looks like a good crowd in here today.”

Sam straightened up and forced himself to greet the new marshal of Dodge City with a smile.  “Afternoon, Marshal.  Yes, we’re not doing too badly.”

Turner looked back around at the patrons then back at Sam.  “Yeah, ya know if that woman, that owned this place before you, hadn’t a tried to get rich quick by robbing and killing that fella, she’d be here now, raking in the profits like you are.  Instead she’s on the run with a five thousand dollar reward on her head.  Sure is a shame what gets into some people’s heads.  Ain't’ it?”  He gave a furtive glance to see if the craggy faced bartender would bite.  He’d heard how the man felt about the fugitive red head.

But Sam gave him no satisfaction.  His expression remained neutral.  “Can I get you a beer?”  He asked politely.

“Ah… oh, no.”  He tipped his hat and turned for the door.  “Got to be going, Sam.  You take care now.”

Though he showed no reaction at all, Sam was shaken by the news the odious fat man had delivered.  He had heard that a bounty had been placed on Miss Kitty’s head, but he didn’t know it was that much.  The knowledge staggered him, knowing that some men would do anything for that amount of money.  Anything.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Clark Grafton was just such a man.  After leaving Cardinal, he had followed the trail south for several miles.  The tracks of a small cart were plainly visible on the muddy path and he felt certain he would have no trouble finding his prey.  However, he’d been fooled and the trickery had left him in an angry state.

When he finally did catch the two wheeled contraption, he found a small little man with an even smaller dog sitting beside him driving the small conveyance and looking irritated at being waylaid.  “Who are you?”  The little man with the big nose demanded to know, while his small brown and white dog yipped incessantly beside him.  “What do you want?”

“Where’d you get this cart?”  Grafton demanded in an equally irritated tone of voice.

“That’s none of your business.”  The man declared as he pulled his doc into his lap.  “Its okay, Sparky.” He reassured the tiny creature.  “He won’t hurt me.”

Grafton’s eyes lit up as he pulled his gun and aimed it squarely at the small canine’s head.  “No, but I’ll hurt him if you don’t speak up.”  He cocked his gun and placed his finger on the trigger.

The little man’s eyes grew wide and he paled as he desperately tried to hide the little animal under his coat. “Don’t shoot, Mister.”  He said.  “I’ll tell ya anything you want to know.  Please don’t hurt my dog.”

Several minutes later, Grafton rode off with a laugh.  Though he hadn’t hurt the old man and his dog, he’d been sure to scare a day’s growth out of them, and by their size they hadn’t had that to lose.  But he didn’t care.  He now knew that a tall man and a redheaded woman were riding south on an alternate trail and if he hurried he’d be able to catch them by nightfall.

TBC


	41. Chapter 41

**The Rescue 41**

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Matt set some more wood on the fire and then resettled himself next to Kitty, wrapping a long arm around her shoulders and pulling her close.  They had found an abandoned shack with a fireplace in fairly good shape and a decent roof.  The rest of the place was crumbling but it was good enough shelter for the night. 

“You okay?”  He asked.  “Warm enough?”  Mid-March was still winter in these parts and though they had blankets and standing walls to keep the wind off of them, it was still cold.

Kitty nodded as she laid her head on his shoulder.  “Just glad to be off that horse.”

Matt smiled ruefully.  “I know, Honey.  I wish you didn’t have to ride horseback.  I know it’s not the best for you. But right now it’s the safest.  That cart was leaving too plain a trail and it was too slow.  We need to get as far from Colorado and Kansas as we can get.”

Kitty nodded solemnly.  “I know.  I just wish…”  She stopped, realizing wishes weren’t often granted to wanted criminals, no matter how innocent they were.

“You wish what?”

Kitty sighed deeply.  “Nothing.”

Matt pulled back away from her and placed a finger under her chin to bring her gaze up to his.  “You wish what?”

Kitty dropped her eyes to the small place on his chest where his badge still rested.  He’d forgotten to take it back off.    “I wish things were different.”  She finally admitted.  “I don’t mean between me and you, or even about the baby, but…”

She came completely out of his arms and sat up, staring at the fire.  “I’m sorry, Matt.  I guess, I’m just tired. You know for several years now, I’ve dreamed of marrying you and having your children.  But I never quite figured on it being like this.  Running and hiding.  I bet you’re sorry you pulled me out of that stage, huh?”

“Never!”  Matt said instantly as he sat up beside her and pulled her once again into the safety of his embrace. 

“I’m not sure I can explain this, Kitty.  But in some ways, in rescuing you from that stage, I rescued myself as well. I’ve always believed in the law.  Always.  I always thought that if you followed the law, stayed in its lines; that things would usually work out.  Even when the law failed, like with Pruitt Dover, it didn’t shake my faith in it.  But the day those twelve men, who didn’t even really know you, stood and declared you guilty of a crime I knew you hadn’t committed, my faith was lost.” 

“Oh no, Matt, you can’t…”  She didn’t want him regretting his life, hating the law for this one time.

“No, Kitty.”  He shook his head.  “I realized right there and then that the thing I had clung so blindly to, the thing I had given up everything for, had not only failed me but you and everyone else as well.”  He paused, searching for the right way to say it.  “The law was wrong, Kitty.  It was wrong.”

“No, Matt.”  Her tone was sharp but her gaze was soft as she looked at him.  “People were wrong.  Judge Henry, the jurors, the District Attorney.  They were wrong.  But the law did what it was supposed to do.  Matt, please. Please don’t think that your life was wasted or that your service as Marshal was senseless.  It wasn’t.  Dodge, even Kansas, is a better place because of you and that badge.  You have to know that.”

Matt dropped his head with a weary shake.  “What I know is that the woman I love has suffered more than she ever should have because of a piece of worthless tin.”

“It wasn’t worthless, Matt.”  Kitty insisted.  “It wasn’t.  You saved a lot of people’s lives wearing that.  Whether you wear it or not, it’s part of you, a good part of you.”

Matt reached down and once again took the badge from his shirt, holding it for just a second, before tossing it into the fire.  “Not anymore.”  He declared.  “Not ever again.”

Outside the shack, Grafton stood silently for a few minutes.  He’d already walked all the way around and determined the only way in was through the front door.  Through a crack in the boards covering the window he’d seen two people sitting huddled in front of the fire, unaware that anyone was near.  He had things just the way he wanted them.  He could bust in and shoot the big man before he knew what hit him and then the woman would be his to do with as he pleased.

But Grafton underestimated the former Dodge City marshal.  Matt’s instincts hadn’t diminished with the tossing away of his badge.  He could still smell trouble and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that trouble had found them. 

With a finger to his lips, Matt took Kitty’s arm and pointed towards the shadowy corner of the room.  Once Kitty was there, he crouched down in front of her, pulled his gun and waited.

He didn’t have to wait long.

With a splintering crash, the thin door was smashed to pieces and a figure entered, firing his gun as he barreled in. Matt returned fire immediately, hitting the dark stranger in the chest.  He went down instantly but he wasn’t dead. Rolling to the side he squeezed off another shot, hitting Matt in the side and causing him to drop his gun.

Grafton, though wounded, grinned.  He didn’t think his wound was fatal and he was going to get the reward money he had gone through so much for.  Raising his gun once again, he aimed at the big man’s head and started to squeeze the trigger.  But he never completed the action. 

Once more, Matt’s gun fired and Grafton, with a surprised look in his eyes, fell forward, dead before his face met the fl00r.

Kitty lowered the gun she’d picked up and quickly moved over to Matt.  “Matt?  Matt?”  Pulling him over onto his back, she caressed his cheek.  “Matt?”  Fear colored her voice.

Matt managed a smile for her, even as the darkness descended on him.  “Sure glad you’re on my side.  You’re a good shot.”  He said before he passed out.

TBC


	42. Chapter 42

**The Rescue 42**

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Kitty was torn as to what to do first.  She had a live man that desperately needed tending and she had a dead man lying in the middle of the floor.  A dead man that had tried to kill her and her husband.

Deciding the dead man could wait, Kitty tugged with what little strength she had until she finally got Matt on his back near the fire.  Covering him over with a blanket, she quickly tended the fire and then checked his side. It wasn’t pretty but it wasn’t deep and she felt sure she could get the bullet out. 

Reaching into their bag of supplies, she found the nightgown Maura had given her.  After tearing it into strips, she laid it aside and dug into the bag again, hoping for whiskey or something to sterilize and clean.  She came up without that but she did find the pan they used.  Quickly, she put it onto the fire and filled it with water. 

While the water boiled she dug into Matt’s pocket and found his knife.  She placed that on the fire and then set about getting his shirt off and cleaning the wound as best she could.   Once the water was boiled and the knife was sterilized she sat about removing the bullet.  She’d seen Doc do it enough times, she thought she could. 

But she didn’t realize how difficult it would be for her emotionally.  It wasn’t Doc, with his years of experience and skill, operating on Matt.  It was her and she felt woefully underequipped for the task.   Still, she was the only one there and she had no choice, if she wanted him to live.  And she surely did want him to live.

Swallowing her fear, she did what she had to as quickly as she could, finally finishing up with as large and thick a bandage as she could make.  She had no needles or thread and though it horrified her to have to do it, she had seared the wound closed with the hot blade of Matt’s knife.  The smell of burning flesh, she knew, would forever remain in the back of her mind but it was at least done.

When her task was completed and she’d covered Matt with both of their blankets, she turned her attention to the dead man.  She needed him out of there but after tugging and pulling on him for some time, she realized she wasn’t able to do it alone. 

Thoughtfully, she studied the problem and the dead man.  Something was sticking out of his shirt pocket. Reaching into his pocket, she quickly pulled the papers free and looked at them. They explained a lot but they didn’t help her with her dilemma.  How do you pull a dead man when you’re not strong enough to do so?

Then it dawned on her.  She couldn’t pull him, but a horse could.  Checking again on Matt, and reassuring herself that he was, for now, okay, she grabbed her coat and went outside.  The hateful man’s horse was just in front, tethered to a bush.  With a sigh of relief, she liberated the rope from the saddle horn, untied the horse and led him to the door.

Back inside the shack, she quickly wrapped the man’s stiffening legs with rope and tied it tight.  Taking the other end of the rope, she stepped back outside and tied it to the saddle horn.  It took some convincing and a lot of pulling but she finally got the horse to back up, turn around and walk.

Trying desperately hard not to think about what she was doing, Kitty led the horse around the derelict little house and to the yard behind it.  When they had discovered the little building that afternoon, they had also discovered a dry, abandoned well in the back, covered with several boards.

Holding tightly to the horse’s reins, she led him to the well and a little beyond until the blond haired man, who looked so much like the monster in her nightmares, was lying beside the hole in the ground.  Quickly removing the boards, she untied the corpse’s legs and rolled him over into the dark cavern below the ground, covering the hole back over after he’d disappeared from sight.

She spent the next four days, tending to Matt, wiping his brow, forcing liquid down his throat and praying fervently that he’d survive.    Her exhaustion reached epic proportions but she pushed it aside.  Several times she found her self, sitting beside him, in a half doze, conscious of nothing but the sound of his breathing.  She forced herself to eat, though the food had no taste, simply because she knew the baby needed it. 

But her mind and her heart were on the big man beside her, when, despite her best efforts, Matt developed a fever.   And for a couple of days, she was certain she was going to lose him.

But Matt Dillon was a stubborn man and he clung tenaciously to life.  When his fever broke, Kitty laid her head on his chest and cried.  Forgotten for the moment was her exhaustion and fear.  She had him back and right then, that was all that mattered.

Later that evening, he awoke to a throbbing pain in his side and a cool cloth on his forehead.  His head was resting in Kitty’s lap.  “Kit… Kitty?”

“Ssshhh.” Kitty whispered.  “Don’t move, Matt.  Just lay still, please.”

Matt swallowed hard trying to moisten his dry throat.  But he only succeeded in irritating it, making him cough which made his side throb all the more. 

Kitty instantly grabbed their canteen and placed it against his lips.  “Here.”  She said. “Sip some of this.  Slowly, Matt.  Just sip.”

Gratefully, Matt took the water in his mouth and let it slowly travel down his throat.  When he felt like he could speak, he looked back up at her.  “How… long?”

“Four days.”  She answered.  “I got the bullet out and got the bleeding stopped, but you’ve had a fever.  I’ve been doing what I can but until this morning when your fever broke, I…” A sob escaped her and she couldn’t continue. She didn’t want to voice the fear that had consumed her for the past few days.  The fear that after all they’d come through, she’d lose him.  “You’re going to be alright.”  She finally said.

Matt looked around the shack.  “Where’s…?”

“I drug him outside.”  She said.  “Or at least me and his horse did.  I couldn’t manage him alone.”

Matt looked at her a little curiously.  “Is he still…”

“Oh, no.”  Kitty smiled.  “Once I got him outside, I steered the horse to that old well in the back.  For all intents and purposes, he’s buried.”

Matt grinned.  “You never cease to amaze me.”

“Well,” Kitty ducked her head.  “I wasn’t out to amaze you.  I was out to protect the both of us.”  Suddenly she remembered the posters.  “Oh, look what I found.  I saw these sticking out of his pocket.”  Reaching into her blouse, she pulled out three pieces of paper and handed them to Matt, helping him to sit up in the process so he could look at them.

They were wanted posters.  One, the worst of the three, was for Kitty.  Five thousand dollars reward for her, dead or alive.  The second one was a fugitive John Doe warrant, issued for anyone found in the company of Kitty Russell and proven to be assisting her.  The third one was the most interesting.  It was a poster for one Clark Grafton, wanted for murder and bank robbery.  The reward was five hundred dollars.

Matt looked up at her.  “This man…”

“He was the one.”  Kitty answered.  “The one that shot you and is now lying in that well out there.”

“This explains him coming in after us.” He waved her poster. 

“But he had a bounty on his head too, Matt.” Kitty pointed out.  “Wouldn’t he have been afraid he’d get caught when he turned us in?”

Matt shrugged.  “Depends on where he took us.  Some Sherriff’s wouldn’t look twice at a bounty hunter.  They’d just pay em to get em out of town.  This third one is good news though.”  He tapped the John Doe warrant.

Kitty looked curiously at him.  “Why would a warrant on you be good?”

“Because it’s not on me.”  Matt grinned.  “It’s on John Doe.  That means they still don’t know for sure that you and I are together.  It means I can still use my badge to…”  He stopped, remembering his decision to get rid of it permanently.  “Well,” he sighed.  “At least my face isn’t on a poster.”

Kitty smiled and got to her feet.  Stepping over to the mantle of the fireplace, she picked something up and knelt back down beside him.  “You can still use it.” She said with a smile as she handed him his badge, tarnished from the fire and a little worse for the wear but still recognizable as representing the office of the US Marshal.

Shocked, Matt stared at it then at her.  “How…?”

“When you tossed it into the fireplace, it didn’t quite land in the fire.  It landed on the edge.  I didn’t believe you when you said it wasn’t part of you.  I know better.  So I thought I’d rescue it, in case we need it again.”

Matt grinned as he accepted the piece of metal from her.  “Like I said, you never cease to amaze me.”

TBC


	43. Chapter 43

**The Rescue 43**

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Doc, Festus and the Atkins, along with their children walked out of the Denver police station each wearing satisfied smiles.  Denver, being the closest town with any sort of law, was the only place they could go, to each swear out affidavits that Seth Brody had confessed in each of their presents that he alone had killed Victor Treager and had purposely framed Kitty Russell for the crime that he committed.  Even the children had signed papers though they weren’t legally recognized.

They swore that Brody came to give his declaration on his death bed as he lay dying of consumption.  The bullet that had actually brought him down was forgotten as well as the fact that Doc hadn’t been there at the time. 

They also left out the roles played by Quaid Hill and the men he had with him.  And they seemingly forgot the presents of Matt and Kitty and the later appearance of Ak Blint and Harry Tiller.  They weren’t too worried about those men having anyone to come looking for them.

Though Buster had not come with them, he had written out a lengthy account of the events which closely matched those of everyone else.  Doc had come to the trading post for a visit with him as a friend as well as his physician and while there Seth Brody came in, obviously ill.  While Doc unsuccessfully treated the man for his ailment, he confessed to his role in the murder and signed a confession which they had produced with a flourish.

The written confession was found by Buster lying fairly hidden on the floor under a small table where Brody had dropped it before he rushed out to try and stop Hill and get himself killed.  Unfortunately it wasn’t discovered until well after Kitty and Matt had already fled the trading post, in fear of their lives.

Though they had to wait until Festus was able to travel, they had wasted no time after that in getting to Denver and settling the matter.  Buster, though he wanted to go, stayed behind because as the weather warmed, his business picked up and he couldn’t leave.

But with his signed statement, along with the others and Brody’s written admission of his guilt, they had felt certain, when they left in the Atkins wagon for Denver that they would be able to resolve this and clear Kitty’s name once and for all, making it possible for her, her husband and new child to live the life they wanted, not the one forced on to them.

The captain of the Denver police, Thomas Rogers, while not promising anything concrete, had been encouraging.  He would, he vowed, send off some wires to the appropriate authorities in Kansas see how quickly he could get the posters stopped.  But he promised nothing further until an investigation was completed. 

“I understand your desire to keep an innocent woman from dying for something she didn’t do.”  He told them.  “But you have to understand, that until I can verify your identities and this Brody’s signature on this confession, all this amounts to, is a group of people telling me a story.”

Festus bristled at his wording but Doc nodded understandingly, placing a placating hand on his friend’s arm.  “Once you send those wires to Dodge, Festus’ and my identities will be completely verified.”  He told the gray haired man with the equally gray beard and mustache and blue gray eyes. 

“The same will be found when you send word to St. Louis about myself and my family.”  Atkins spoke up.  “We had many friends and a fine reputation there.”

Captain Rogers nodded.  “I have no doubt of that, Mr. Atkins.  I don’t believe any of you would come here and make these statements if they weren’t true.  I will do everything in my power to, first, stop anymore of these posters from being distributed and then secondly to bring this confession to light and clear this lady’s name.  Of course, you all wouldn’t know where she could be found, would you?”

He’d slipped that question in, hoping they’d slip and tell him something more.  He did believe them but he had to be sure.

But Doc hadn’t reached the age he had, without the attainment of wisdom.  “We have no idea, Captain.”  He said truthfully.  “I don’t even have any idea how Seth Brody happened to be in the same place as Festus and myself, so far from Dodge.  He never said how he came to be there.  But I can assure you, it was by complete coincidence.”

“It was less than that for us.”  Atkins spoke up.  “We have never heard of the lady in question or met Mr. Hagan and Dr. Adams before that day.  But when he heard what he had said and saw him write out that confession, we knew we had to come forward and try to help clear this lady’s name.  I believe it the only Christian thing to do, don’t you?”

Rogers nodded with a smile.  “Yes sir, I do.  I surely do.  And for that reason among others, I will do everything in my power to help you.  I would ask that you give me a couple of days to send out my inquiries and get back to you, before you leave here.”

“We will do that.”  Doc told him with a smile.  “Come on, Festus.  Let’s find us a place to stay and get a meal.”

Festus, who’d uncharacteristically kept silent during their time in the Captain’s office, merely nodded and followed Doc and the Atkins family from the police station.  Only when they’d emerged out onto the street, did he let down his guard and grimace as he placed his hand on his chest where his wounded flesh was still healing.  But just as quickly, he regained his composure and smiled.  No physical pain could diminish his pleasure at knowing that soon, Miss Kitty and Matthew would be free of the law and able to live the life they deserved.

He just wished he knew where they were, so he could tell them.

TBC


	44. Chapter 44

**The Rescue 44**

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They stayed at the shack for a week.  Kitty didn’t think it near long enough for Matt but he refused to linger another day.

“We can’t afford to stay any longer, Kitty.”  He told her.  “I doubt Grafton was the only one to see that poster and I don’t much feel like waiting around for another one to find us.”

“But, Matt,” she protested.  “We’ve been here close to two weeks and no one other than Grafton has come near this place.  Besides, your side…”

“My side is fine.”  Matt reassured her.  “Good enough to ride anyway.  And we need to ride.”

“Ride where?”  Kitty asked wearily.  “We don’t have a home, Matt.  No place we can go would be safe for us or the people around us.  And in case it slipped your mind, I’m almost 7 months pregnant.  I’m not sure I can ride.”

Matt nodded.  “I haven’t forgotten that, Honey, or anything else.  I just...”  He stopped seeing the defeated expression on her face.  She was losing hope of them ever getting out of this.  She was just about ready to give up. 

Taking her hand, he pulled her to him with a kiss.  “Look, I have a friend who lives south of here, maybe another two week’s travel.  He and his wife have a large ranch and plenty of room.  I have no doubt we could stay there with them for a while.  At least till the baby comes.  That’d give us time to make some plans and decide where we go from there.”

Kitty sighed.  She didn’t know what to do.  They couldn’t go back and though the weather was getting better with each day, they couldn’t remain at the little shack.  “Alright.”  She agreed.  “Guess we have no choice.”

Matt held her tightly to him, kissing her on the forehead at first then moving his lips further down till he found hers.  “It’s gonna be okay, Kitty.”  He assured her.  “It’s gonna be okay.”

Their trip took longer than the two weeks Matt had predicted but at least it gone uneventfully.  They encountered few people on the trail and no one who seemed to recognize them.   

Kitty couldn’t ride for too long before needing to get off the horse and take a rest.  Matt knew how difficult this was for her physically and when, after three days they came up on a small farm, he used his rescued badge and the last of their money to coerce the farmer into selling him his wagon and some supplies.  Though the traveling was easier on Kitty it did slow them down quite a bit. 

But finally, after eighteen days, Matt steered the wagon into the drive of a large ranch called the Circle Bar T.  Kitty was lying down in the back of the wagon, being no longer able sit on the hard bench seat beside Matt.  As usual, she’d made no complaints during the trip but he could tell how relieved she was to have arrived. 

“You sure they’ll welcome us?”  Kitty asked as she sat up and took in the large house and well appointed grounds.  These people look awful rich, Matt.  I’m not sure they’d want a wanted murderer in their home.”

“They wouldn’t.”  Matt agreed.  “But then again, you’re not a murderer.  Don’t worry, sweetheart.  They’ll accept us.”

As Matt pulled the wagon into the large circle drive in front of the house, several men came from several places all curiously looking at the strangers.  “Hello.”  Matt greeted the nearest one.  “I’m looking for Grant Hawkes.”

“He’s the owner.”  The man answered.  “What do you want with him?”  He had just spotted Kitty in the back of the wagon and was even more curious now.

“My name is Matt Dillon.”  Matt answered.  “I’m a friend of his.”

“Yes you are.”  A gruff voice sounded from the right before the ranch hand could respond.  “Matt Dillon, how in the world are you?”  The tall blond man with a dapper mustache and green eyes came up as Matt jumped down from the wagon, grabbing his hand and pulling him into an embrace.  “I haven’t seen you in ten years or more.” He exclaimed.

“I know.”  Matt answered stepping away from his friend and to the back of the wagon to help Kitty down.  “And I hate coming here now, like this, but I need help.”

Grant saw the seriousness of the situation in his friend’s eyes then took looked at the woman he’d helped from the wagon.  “Come on inside.”  He said suddenly.  Turning towards the house, he motioned to one of his men.  “Take care of their wagon and horses.  Get em’ put up.”

Once inside the house, Grant led them into the great room.  “You all have a seat.   Linda, my wife, is in town.  But she should be home in little bit.  Can I get you all something to drink or eat?”

“Not for me.”  Matt answered as he helped Kitty to sit down on a chair.  “Kitty?”

Kitty shook her head.  “No.”

Grant poured himself a glass of whiskey and then turned to his guests.  “Before you say anything, Matt, I must tell you I already know about your friend here.  I saw her poster in town about a week ago.”

Matt swallowed hard.  “She’s my wife.” He said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.  “And if you don’t want us here…”

“I never said that, Matt.”  Grant stopped him.  “You both are welcome here.  I don’t base my friendships on words on a paper.  Besides that poster’s been withdrawn.  From what I understand she’s no longer wanted.”

Matt and Kitty both looked up sharply, equal looks of surprise and disbelief.  “What are you talking about?”  Matt asked.  “How…”

“Well, I don’t know everything of course.”  Grant sat down opposite them and took another sip of his whiskey.  “But I was in town again yesterday and was passing by the jail, when the Sherriff was pulling the paper down.  As you can imagine, wanted posters of pretty women aren’t seen too often, so I was kinda curious when I saw him take it down and tear it up and I asked the Sherriff why.”

Matt gave Kitty a gentle squeeze, feeling her tremble next to him.  “And what’d he say?”

“He said he wasn’t sure.  He just got a wire from some judge in Kansas saying to tear em up and she wasn’t wanted anymore.  I figured it was because she was caught but I see that’s not the case.  Or at least not the way I thought.”

Matt looked down at Kitty with a grin before pulling her to him and hugging her tightly.  “I told you it’d be alright.”  He whispered.  “I told you.”

Stunned, Kitty could say nothing as she clung tightly to Matt.  Her head was swirling and she suddenly began to feel faint.  “Matt?’  She said, taking a deep breath.  “I need to lay down.”

Suddenly panicked, Matt looked up at Grant but he didn’t even have to say a word. 

“Let’s get her to a room where she can rest, Matt.”  Grant rose and stepped over to help Kitty up. 

But Matt beat him to the punch.  As quickly as he got up, he swung Kitty up into his arms.  “Show me the way.”

Granted nodded.  “Follow me.” Turning he led the way from the room and down a hallway to a bedroom near the end.  Opening the door, he stepped back out of the way so Matt could enter with Kitty.  “I’ll send one of my men into town for the doctor.”

Matt nodded as he laid Kitty down.  “Good idea.”  He said.  “We’ve come so far now; I don’t want to take any more chances.”

TBC


	45. Chapter 45

**The Rescue 45**

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Kitty, according to the doctor, was suffering from exhaustion and nerves.  He recommended complete bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy.  Kitty, of course, protested but her pleas were ignored.  Matt as well as their hosts, Grant and Linda, would hear nothing of it.  She was going to stay there until the baby was born.

Two days later, Matt rode into town with Grant and spoke to the Sherriff who told him the same thing he’d told Grant.  He did produce the wire he’d received and Matt noted it was from Judge Brooker.  Making his way down to the telegraph office, Matt sent a wire to Judge Brooker as well as one to Sam, not sure if Doc would be back in Dodge yet. 

While waiting for replies, Matt and Grant went down to the Lucky Spot Saloon and sat back with a beer.  “Tell ya what, Matt.”  Grant said.  “I was never so surprised in my life, as I was when you pulled up in that wagon, with a pregnant wife in tow.  And after all you two have gone through…?  I knew you were tough, and I always figured any woman that ever got entangled with you would be too, but Kitty’s more than that.”

Matt nodded with a smile.  “Yeah, she is, Grant.”  He took a sip of his drink.  “She has just about gone through hell with this mess but she never felt sorry for herself, ya know.  She was worried and scared and concerned about me and Festus and anyone else who helped us but she never pitied herself.”

“What are your plans now, Matt?  I mean, trusting that you two really will be free.  You plan on pinning that badge back on and going back to Dodge?”

Matt didn’t answer right away as he took a sip of his beer.  But finally he met his friends gaze.  “That’s something Kitty and I need to really think about, Grant.  My faith in the law has been well shaken by all of this as you can guess.  But it’s the only thing I’m really any good at.  Still, I have a wife now and soon to have a child.  It’s a lot to think on.”

Just then a young boy came in and made his way straight to Matt.  “Mister?”  He held out a piece of paper.  “I got a wire for you.”  Matt reached for the wire while fishing in his pocket for some change, but Grant had already handed the boy a silver dollar. 

“Thanks, Jimmy.”  He said with a glance at Matt.  He suspected he didn’t have any money.

Matt gave him a rueful smile as he opened the slips of paper and read the replies.  The first was from Sam.  “Doc and Festus home.  Both fine.  Waiting to see friends.”  Matt smiled at that.

The other wire was from Judge Brooker.  “Stay where you are.  I will be there in three days.”  That one concerned Matt a little and his reaction was plainly evident to Grant.

“Something wrong?”  He asked.

Matt shook his head.  “I don’t know.  Judge Brooker replied that he’s coming here.  I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.”

“Well, surely it’s not bad, Matt.  I mean he did rescind those posters and the reward.  He wouldn’t have done that if Kitty was still wanted would he?”

Matt shrugged.  “Don’t guess so but we’ll find out in three days.  That’s when he said he’d be here.”  He looked down.  “I’ll tell ya what, Grant.  No matter what he says, I’m not letting them take her.  I… I’m just not, that’s all.”

“We won’t.”  Grant declared as he pushed back from the table.  “I've got enough men working for me to make sure of that.  Come on, I’ve got to stop by the general store before we head back to the ranch.”

Once inside the store, Grant handed the clerk a rather long list, causing the bespectacled man to look at him a little strangely after reading it.  “Your wife sure does need a lot.”  He remarked looking at Grant a little strangely. 

“Yes she does.”  Grant replied.  “Uh, how long do you think it’ll take to get this all together?”  He looked over at Matt who was looking down into a display case.

“It won’t take me long.” The little man said as he too noticed Matt’s interest.  “Uh, can I help you, Mister?”  He stepped over and looked down at the display that held Matt’s attention.

Matt looked up and regretfully shook his head.  “Uh, no.  Thank you.”  Matt pulled his eyes away and looked over at Grant.  “Maybe, I’ll just wait outside.”  He said as he quickly ducked out onto the boardwalk in front of the store.

Grant looked over at the items for display and suddenly understood.  “Hold up, Matt.”

When Matt turned back, Grant reached in his pocket and pulled out some money, placing it in Matt’s hand.  “When you get back to work you can pay me back.”

But Matt shook his head.  “No, Grant.  I can’t… I can’t do that.”

“Matt,” Grant spoke sternly.  “Isn’t she worth you sacrificing your pride a little?  Look, it’s not a hand out, it’s a loan.  Nothing more.  Besides, I owe you and you know I do or you wouldn’t be here now.”  But still Matt hesitated.  “It’s for Kitty, Matt.”

Finally ducking his head, Matt nodded and accepted the money.  Squaring his shoulders he walked back into the store and went back to the display case and looked in.

“Change your mind, Mister?”  The clerk stepped back over. 

“Yes, Sir.”  Matt nodded.  “I’d like to see those two things right there.”  He pointed into the case.

Later that evening, after Matt and Grant returned to the ranch, Kitty laid back on the bed looking in amazement at the clothes and baby things surrounding her.  The long list, Grant had given the clerk, had consistently contained items for her, Matt and the baby.  And though she had protested and declared it too much, her protests were ignored. 

“Kitty, please.”  Linda had smiled at her new friend.  “Grant and I aren’t exactly paupers and we want to do this.”  When Kitty had finally agreed, Linda kissed her on the cheek and left giving her and Matt some time alone.

“They’re good people, Matt.”  Kitty sighed as he sat down on the bed beside her.  “You picked some good friends.”

Matt nodded.  “Didn’t really pick them,” he said.  “More like we were thrown together and a friendship formed.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, it was about 15 years ago.  Grant was just starting this place when he got accused of rustling cattle.  I was just a deputy back then.  It was before I headed to Dodge.  I didn’t know Grant then but I had a feeling about him and I didn’t believe he was guilty.  So I did some investigating of my own and found the man who really was doing it.  Grant and I have been friends every since.”

Kitty looked up at him suspiciously.  “Something tells me there’s a lot more to that story but I doubt you’ll tell me.”

Matt grinned.  “You’re right.  Besides, we have other things to discuss.”

Kitty nodded.  “Did you get a reply from Judge Brooker?”

“Yeah,” Matt answered.  “He’s on his way here.  Said he’d be here in about three days.”

Kitty looked at Matt worriedly.  “You don’t think… I mean, he wouldn’t…  Would he ordered me arrested?”

Matt considered it but shook his head.  “No, I don’t think so.  If that was his intent he’d just have the Sherriff here arrest you.  I think he’s got something else in mind.”

“Like what?” 

“I don’t know for sure, but I’m not going to worry about it.”  Matt bent down and kissed her before fishing in his pockets and pulling out two small boxes.  “When I was in town, I saw a couple of things that I wanted you to have.”  He placed the boxes on her lap and chuckled at the look of surprise on her face.  “Go ahead, open them.”

“Matt, we don’t have any money.”  Kitty protested.  “I know you used the last of what we did have to buy that wagon from that farmer.”

“I borrowed the money from Grant.”  He told her.  “And before you say anything about that, don’t.  I have every intention of repaying him when I can.  But there were a couple of things you had to have that couldn’t wait until I got the money.  Now go ahead, open them.”

Shaking her head at him, Kitty opened the slightly larger box to find a silver baby rattle.  “Oh, Matt.”  She exclaimed.  “It’s… it’s just lovely.”

Matt grinned.  “I wanted our baby to have something special when it comes into this world, I mean, besides it’s Mama.”

Kitty reached up and kissed him, then looked back down at the rattle.  “Our baby has an awful special papa, too.”  She told him.

“Open the next one.”  Matt told her.

Picking the smaller box up, Kitty opened it to reveal a gold ring with a diamond solitaire on the top and two sapphires one either side.  For several minutes she said nothing as she looked at the ring.  Finally she looked up at him with tears in her eyes.  “I… oh, Matt.”  She grabbed him and pulled him down to her.  “I’ve never seen anything so pretty.”

He grinned at her.  “I hoped you’d like that.  Thanks to Doc you have a wedding ring, but I wanted you have something from me.”

“I love it.”  She declared.  “I love you.”

“I love you too.”  He said as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

TBC


	46. Chapter 46

**The Rescue 46**

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For the next two days, Matt worked on Grant’s ranch alongside his ranch hands.  His stated reason was in order to pay his friend back, at least in part, for his generosity.    But Matt also wanted to know if he had what it took to work a ranch, if he could spend his days herding cattle instead of drunken cowboys.  He knew two days wouldn’t be nearly enough time to know for sure, but he figured it’d give him an idea. 

On the third day, he borrowed a buggy from Grant and drove to town to meet the stage.  Kitty had wanted to go but accepted Matt’s refusal, with little argument.  She understood traveling, even just the five miles into town, would be too difficult for her now, in her advanced state of pregnancy.  But she also suspected Matt wanted to talk to the judge alone first, to explain everything that had taken place in the last nine months.

Once he reached town, Matt wasted no time in getting to the stage station and parking himself outside.  This meeting was important to his and Kitty’s futures.  And although, Judge Brooker had always been a friend, he figured he was also a very honest jurist who would not twist the law even for a friend.

Judge Brooker climbed from the stage and greeted Matt with a reassuring smile and a firm handshake.  “Matt, good to see you.  To be honest I was just about afraid, I’d never see you again.”

Matt ducked his head for a moment.  “I know Judge, and to tell the truth, I wasn’t so sure myself.”

“Well, let’s see if we can fix that, shall we?”  Judge Brooker slapped him on the shoulder as he accepted his bag from the stage driver.  “Where is Miss Russell?”  He asked looking around.

“Well, she’s not here, Judge.”  Matt told him.  “She’s not able to travel.”

Brooker gave him a startled look.  “She hurt?”

“Not really.”  He answered evasively.  “Look, Judge, lets ride on out to the ranch, we’re staying at, and I’ll tell you everything on the way.”

By the time they’d reached the drive, leading onto the ranch, Judge Brooker was shaking his head.  “I can’t believe it, Matt.  You two went through all of that?”

Matt nodded.  “Yeah, we did, Judge.”

“And you’re married and she’s pregnant?”

“Yes,” Matt confirmed.

Brooker broke into a grin and clapped him once again on the shoulder.  “Well, congratulations, Matt.  I’m happy for you two.”

“How happy?”  Matt asked with a raised brow.

“Let’s go and see your lovely bride,” Brooker’s grin didn’t diminish, “and I’ll tell you both together.”

Although Kitty had wanted to get dressed and meet the judge in the great room, in the end, she acquiesced to her condition and stayed put.  She just wasn’t physically able to get up.

When the Judge and Matt arrived, Matt took him back to the bedroom and showed him in. Once the pleasantries were exchanged, Judge Brooker wasted no time in getting down to business.  “I realize my coming here, is a bit unusual.  Especially since this is not in my jurisdiction.  But I felt this was important enough to warrant it.” 

He reached over from the chair he was sitting in and took Kitty’s hand.  “I know from Matt, here, that the past year has been pretty rough for you.”

Kitty nodded and dropped her eyes, not wanting to think about how hard it had been.

“Well, I am hoping to make the next year easier on you.  Now first of all, you had some very serious charges stacked up against you.  Not just the murder conviction for Treager, but the charges of escape and the added charges of murder for the deputy and stage driver, killed when the stage wrecked.”

Kitty gasped and looked up at Matt then back at the judge.  “But I didn’t kill them.  No one did.  They died as a result of that wreck.  Honest, Judge, I…”

“I know, I know.”  He reassured her.  “But you’ll notice, I said ‘had’.  It seems Judge Henry was a little over zealous in his desire to see justice done and over stepped some boundaries.  I had an independent investigator go out to the scene of the wreck and look it over carefully.  He reported that the wreck was simply a result of going too fast on bad roads.  There was nothing to indicate any escape attempt, aside from the fact that you hadn’t been found there.  And that of course can be explained easily enough.”

“How?”  Matt asked. 

Judge Brooker grinned.  “Someone rescued her from that wrecked stage and took her away from there.”  He gave Matt a knowing look.  “And although you were already retired as Marshal, you went to find her, when you learned of it.  Is that not correct?”

Matt licked his suddenly dry lips and looked at the judge in confusion.  He couldn’t be saying what it sounded like.  “How do you explain our marriage and her pregnancy?”  He asked.

“I distinctly remember marrying you two in secret about two years ago.”  The judge arched a brow at him. “And well, convicted felon or not, she being your wife and you being a man, well when you finally found her…”

Matt closed his eyes and shook his head.  He couldn’t believe the judge was willing to do this.

“Judge.”  Kitty looked at both men.  “Even if we were able to convince someone of that story, it doesn’t change the fact that I was convicted of murder.”

The judge sobered up and looked back over at her.  “No it doesn’t.  But convictions can be overturned, if there is sufficient evidence.  And thanks to some friends of yours, there is plenty of evidence.”

“What do you mean?”  Matt and Kitty both asked at the same time.

“Well,” Brooker smiled.  “First of all, Doctor Adams, Festus Hagen, a man named Buster Musgrove and a family by the name of Atkins, all swore that they were a party to a deathbed confession of a man named Seth Brody.  They even had a written confession by him, stating that he, not you, killed Vic Treager and that he inadvertently framed you for it.” 

He gave Kitty a reassuring tug of the hand when he saw the expression of pain on her face.    “I obtained a copy of that letter, incidentally, and had it examined.”  He continued looking back over at Matt.  “The signature appears to be genuine.  I also found several gamblers in town who attested to the fact that Mr. Treager had lost quite a bit of money to them and was talking about finding a way to get it back.  Now that, in and of itself, doesn’t prove her innocence but combined with Brody’s confession, as well as other witnesses who will swear that Victor Treager had stated on several occasions that he was going to take Miss… I mean, Mrs. Dillon, I believe it’s plenty sufficient to overturn her conviction and clear her name completely.”

“But Judge Henry…” Matt started.

“Judge Henry is a fool.”  Brooker said with a touch of angry disgust.  “As a matter of fact he’s worse than that.  I still have a little more investigating to do to prove it, but I think Henry and that pompous ass of a District Attorney knew about Treager’s gambling losses as well as other things that would have helped her case and withheld that from her attorney.  There’s also the matter of the charge.”  He looked back at Kitty.  “Even if you and he had of fought over a gun and he got shot, it wouldn’t have been first degree murder.  At worst it would’ve been manslaughter.  At best, self-defense.”

Matt looked over at Kitty and saw the hopeful expression on her face, but he also saw the same feeling of almost guilt that he felt.  “Uh, Judge.”  He glanced at Kitty again and she gave him a subtle nod of approval.  “About that death bed confession…”

“Don’t.”  Brooker said firmly.  “I had a private conversation with Dr. Adams before I came here and he told me everything.  Although there is a minor discrepancy in how the confession came about, it doesn’t change the fact that a confession was given, both verbally and in writing and before several witnesses.  In my opinion,” he looked once again to Kitty.  “You are from this day forward, free of all charges.  Anything legally, that needs to be done to assure that, I will take care of.”

As tears streamed from her cheeks, Kitty sat up in the bed and reached over, hugging Judge Brooker tightly. “Thank you.”  Was all she could manage to whisper.

Judge Brooker patted her on the back and then kissed her on the cheek before finally releasing her.  “You have nothing to thank me or anyone else for, except maybe this tall fellow here.  You were done a grave injustice, young lady.  And I intend to do everything in my power to rectify that.”

Matt reached out and grabbed the Judge’s hand tightly.  “You don’t know what this means to us.” 

“Maybe not entirely,” the judge smiled.  “But I have an idea.  Oh, and before I forget, you two might like to have this.”  Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out an envelope and pressed it into Kitty’s hand.  “The official papers rescinding your arrest warrant and canceling the bounty, as well as overturning your conviction, are in there, as well as a wedding certificate dated about two years ago.  Hang on to those.”

“”Yes, Sir.”  She smiled, cradling the envelope to her chest as the judge got up from his chair and turned to Matt. 

“And, Matt,” he nodded towards Kitty.  “You hang onto her.”

Matt shook his hand again than moved to sit beside Kitty on the bed, pulling her into his arms.  “I intend to, Judge.  I intend to.”

TBC


	47. Chapter 47

**The Rescue Epilogue**

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Kitty sat beside Matt, cradling her three month old son close to her chest as the stage made its bumpy way down the road.  The day was beautiful and sunny and the abundant prairie wildflowers lent a heavenly fragrance to their travels as well as beautiful sights to ponder on as they made their way back towards Dodge.

Wrapping an arm around her, Matt looked down at his wife and child and smiled.  “Comfortable?”  He asked a touch sarcastically as the stage hit another rut in the road, tossing them against each other.

Kitty looked down at her still sleeping son and nodded.  “Yep.”  She said.  “You?”

Matt grinned. “As long as I have you two, I’m as happy as a pig in slop, to quote a certain friend of mine.”

Kitty laughed, as she thought of Festus and Doc and Sam and all the others in town that she would be seeing in a couple of days.  “Wonder if Dodge has changed any.”  She mused.

Matt shrugged.  “Probably has.  And probably not for the good.” 

His tone had an edge of bitterness to it and though Kitty understood why, she didn’t want him to feel that way. “Matt, I know some bad things happened there, but some good things did too, ya know.  I mean, it is after all, where we met.”

Matt sighed and shook his head.  “Yes, it is but don’t give Dodge any credit for that.  I have a feeling we were meant to be together no matter where we met.”

Kitty grinned up at him.  “Me too.” She agreed.  “But still, it was Dodge where we met and for a while there, we had a good life there.”

Matt looked down at her with an arched brow.  “As good as now?”

Kitty shook her head and reached up, kissing him.  “No.”  She said as she settled close to him to finish out their ride.

Two days later, Doc, Festus, Sam and a whole contingent of Dodge City citizens waited anxiously outside the stage station for the stage to arrive.  It had been a little over a year since most of them had seen the red headed beauty and the tall iconic lawman.  They all knew, by now, of the marriage and the baby and those present were eager to see them.

Those not present, were the ones that couldn’t face them.  Men like Lijah Krupp who’d said loudly many times how he was sure the saloon owner was guilty and even suggested she’d come onto him a time or two.  And women like Eulaina Clearwater who’d called Kitty every vile name she could think of and speculated on how many other men she’d killed. 

Once the details were made known of what had really happened, those two individuals along with every person on the jury purposely kept their heads low and stayed out of town if at all possible.  The jury foreman, George Goodell, went so far as to leave town the day before, so ashamed was he in his part of the whole thing.

“Here it comes!”  Festus said excitedly when he spotted the stage turning the corner at the edge of town and racing down towards them.

All necks craned to get a first look at the incoming conveyance and the precious people it was carrying to them. When the stage came to a jolting halt, Sam wasted no time in wrenching the door open and looking inside. “Welcome home, Miss Kitty.”  He grinned from ear to ear when he saw her.

“Oh, Sam.”  Kitty exclaimed as she handed Matt the baby and climbed into her friends arms.  Hugging tightly for a moment, she moved on from him to Doc to Festus.  “You all don’t know how glad I am to see you all.”

“Not as glad as we are to see you.”  Doc hugged her again, kissing her cheek.

“Matthew,” Festus practically roared.  “Hand me down my nephew and you get your ownself out of that there stage.”

“Your nephew?”  Doc bellowed.  “Who said he was your nephew?”

“Matthew did.”  Festus crowed.  “Din’t’ya, Matthew?”

“I sure did,” Matt answered as he handed the precious bundle to Festus and climbed out of the stage.

Kitty reached over to Festus and reclaimed her baby and looked around happily at everyone there.  “Our son is related to all of you.”  She told them.  “He wasn’t born here, but he’s going to be raised here and all of you will be part of his family.”

A cheer went up from crowd at that and Matt was the recipient of many pats on the shoulder as well as another cheer, all of which only served to give him a sore shoulder and wake up his son who was now crying loudly at being woken up.

“Now, there.  Do you see what you did?”  Doc grumbled at Festus.  “You went and woke my grandson up.  You just couldn’t keep your mouth shut.  I told you…”

“You told me?”  Festus asked loudly.  “Now, you looky here ya ol’ quacky quack.  I done…”

“You ain’t done nothing but…”

Matt and Kitty grinned at the old familiar bantering of their family and shook their heads.  “Come on.”  Matt whispered to her.  “They won’t even know we’re gone for a while.”

Kitty nodded and followed Matt into the Long Branch and up to her former rooms.  Sure enough, neither Doc nor Festus, or anyone else watching, noticed them leave.

After getting into the room, Matt pulled his jacket off and took the baby from Kitty so she too could get comfortable.  “I’m gonna ride out to the old Clemmons ranch tomorrow, he told her as he rocked his son and got him to settle back down.  Don’t know what kind of shape of it’s in so I need to see what needs to be done for us to move in.”

Kitty nodded absently as she looked around the room that had been her home for so long.  “Sam really did a nice of job of cleaning and airing out up here, didn’t he?”  She asked.

Matt nodded.  “Yep. I suspect he wanted you to be comfortable.”  Matt said quietly as his son finally settled down and went back to sleep.  “Sam’d do anything for you.”

Kitty smiled up at her husband.  “For us.”  She said, taking the baby from Matt and settling down on the settee. 

“Guess so.”  Matt nodded.  Sitting down beside her, he placed a hand on her arm.  “Are you sure?”  He asked her.  “I mean after all, a lot of people here thought you were guilty of murder.  Those people are still here.”

Kitty smiled but shook her head.  “They were here, before this all happened, too.”  She pointed out.

“Yeah,” Matt agreed.  “But they didn’t quite seem so vicious then.  What about the other?  You know I can still…”

“Matt, please don’t ask me again.”  Kitty stopped him.  “I agree we should have a place for ourselves out of town and the Clemmons ranch will be perfect for us. But despite what happened to me, you love the law.  And there is no one I know of that could tame that viciousness in people like you can.  Besides, I know, as well as you do, you would never be completely happy as a rancher.  And don’t you think we’ve had enough unhappiness to last us for a while?”

Matt nodded.  “Yes, Ma’am.  I do.  But I also think that the only important thing is what’s best for you and what you want.”

Kitty reached over and kissed him before laying her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her and the baby.  “I have what I want.”  She said.   “A husband who loves me, a beautiful little boy, a home to call my own and my name cleared.  There’s only one other thing I want.”

“What’s that?”  Matt asked curiously.

Kitty giggled.  “A daughter.”

Matt chuckled and hugged her tight.  “Well, Ma’am.  Let’s try for that too.”

The End.


End file.
